Kelly Osbourne Knows Her Dark Side

First of all, congratulations on your success! You guys did an amazing job! Certainly not "beige". What did you guys do to step it up this past week?

Kelly Osbourne: "You know what it was? It was a real kind of 'lost in translation' moment for me and Louis last week, because I knew I needed to step up my game, and Louis knew that he needed to make sure I stepped up my game. So we both went into it and I was ready, and I was really, really focusing. I just kept doing the step, over and over and over again. And Louis kept saying to me, 'You're not putting any effort in, you're not putting any effort in.' And I kept thinking, why is he saying this to me? How can he say this to me? This is the hardest thing I've ever done! And I kept thinking, how can he think I'm not putting any effort in? I'm giving everything I have to give. I didn't understand. It made me freak out."

Louis Van Amstel: "And in the meantime, I was like, 'What's going on? Why are you like this?''

Osbourne: "And it was because, in the dance world, 'effort' is performance. What your face does. How you flick your arms, not just flicking your arms."

Van Amstel: "The dynamic changes of the energy within your body. That's what I was going after."

Osbourne: "And I didn't get it! We had about two crying things where I'd be saying, 'He just doesn't get it and I'm trying so hard!' and then he finally looked at me with the biggest smile on his face, and was like, 'Ooh! That's what you don't get! The effort is the performance!'

It was the weirdest thing. For the past seven weeks, I've wanted to do it. Wanted to do it so bad. But for some reason, it makes me feel so vulnerable. It makes me feel so raw. And basically naked. I don't know. I've never really done that before. I've done theater which is very expressive, but I was saying a line with it. Now I'm not speaking. It's difficult...to express with my face. So I just went out there and I said, 'I'm not going to let this get me down. I'm not going to do that.' It was partly being called 'beige'. I had something to prove. I wanted to prove I was still good enough to be in the competition. I wanted to show everyone I could do it and I didn't want my confidence to be any more of an issue. I just thought, f*** this. I'm going to go out there and I'm going to do it. And it was the most fun I've ever had on the show."

You could really see that in your faces. You both looked like you were having so much fun! You guys have three dances coming up this week, right?

Van Amstel: "This week is only two. The knock out dance...it had been like that for the past two weeks. Whoever was in the bottom three...this week it's only two. We have the jive and the fox trot. They're both 1:36 each. But week 9, the dance off, will then become the third dance in the competition."

So what are you guys doing to take it to the next level?

Van Amstel: "Well, I think we took it to the next level last week. Now we're just capitalizing on it."

Osbourne: "Polish it up."

Van Amstel: "Yeah, polish it up. Make sure that the routine gets in our heads. The sooner the better, because then we can really focus on working on what Bruno (Tonioli) said. More mojo. What Len (Goodman) said, you know, the dance level, just up our game and focus more on the dancing and have a lot of fun. Because they saw it. They saw the fun and that's what it is."

So what's been your favorite dance so far, Kelly?

Osbourne: "The Argentine tango. It was so much fun to get to work with Donny (Osmond) and Joanna (Krupka) as well as well as Kym (Johnson) and Derek (Hough). We all brought something to the table...it was just fantastic. And that moment when we did it, it felt so good. I kept looking over at Joanna and Joanna kept looking over at me, and we kept smiling with out eyes at each other, sort of saying, 'this is so fun'. When we went back and we looked at it, I couldn't believe how in sync we were and how great it looked. I didn't make any mistakes! It was amazing!

The other week, Louis got you on a trapeze and that really seemed to do something for you. Do you have any other tricks like that up your sleeve Louis?"

Van Amstel: "Yeah. By the way, I'm not the only one who instigates things. Ms. Osbourne is not as innocent as she looks."

[laughs] Is that true Kelly?

Osbourne: "Um..."

Van Amstel: "Of course she'll say no, but I know..."

Osbourne: "Oh, I don't think I'm as innocent as I look, by any means. I know that I have a very dark side...but over the past year it's really, really taken a back seat. I went through a big change this year, where I almost went back into infancy and kind of relied on everyone. 'Should I do this? Should I not do this?' And even with this competition I went through that...waiting for Louis to tell me to do something. Now I'm at a point where, Ok, I'm in control. I can drive the car too. I can ask Louis when I need help with something. I can tell Louis what's possible and what's not. Usually I just let him tell me what to do because he's my partner. He's my coach. But now I'm trusting myself and speaking up, and it's definitely something that the last week has definitely changed."

Van Amstel: "Well, I think also that if you're a coach for any couple or any person, it's your job to make that person make their own choices, because, in the end, it's your responsibility, but it's also the freedom. It's the freedom of speech. If we do choreography, and kelly wants something, who am I to say, no you can't do it because I'm the choreographer? Then I can't get the best out of kelly. And this week, that's really gone to another level. And this coming week is no different from last week. But last week was such a breakthrough...I mean, people really talk about our chemistry, our relationship. How well we gel together. But I feel now on a professional level, it's gone to another level."

I actually read that you guys are going on vacation together after this is over.

Osbourne: "Yes!"

Where are you guys going to go?

Van Amstel: "Sunshine!"

Osbourne: "Somewhere hot and somewhere sunny where we can be on the beach all day and do whatever we want."

Van Amstel: "No alarm clocks, no phones, no email, nothing, for at least five days."

That sounds wonderful!

Van Amstel: "Let's all go now!"

Kelly, I know that you've said that this was the one thing you couldn't talk your way out of or bulls*** your way out of. What has this competition really meant to you, personally?

Osbourne: "I feel like this competition has given me an opportunity to show America and, in fact, the world who I really am, but at the same time, this competition has given me confidence, it's taught me to love my body, it's taught me to have respect for myself, it's taught me discipline, it's taught me courage, bravery. It's such a journey to be a part of this. Because you start out and you're like, 'Oh my god, what the f*** have I gotten myself into?' And as each week goes by, you start to love it a little bit more and it starts to become a little bit more fun until you're like, 'I never want this to end! It's so much fun!' Every single day I learn something new about myself. Every single day it's a struggle and a challenge, and it's so much fun."

Van Amstel: "Twelve weeks ago it was like, 'What the f*** did I get myself into?' And now it's like, 'Why the f*** is it over in three weeks?'"

Kelly, are you going to continue dancing after the competition?

Osbourne: "Absolutely. I don't think I'll ever stop now. Now I look at it in a different way. It's like, let's see if I can do this. And if I can, I'll try something difficult, just playing around, and then somehow I actually do it, and it makes me feel so good that I can actually do it. I literally just practiced a trick, and I was like, 'Wow! I never thought I could do this! That's so cool!' It's that kind of feeling. It's a satisfying kind of feeling."

Would either of you think about doing a Broadway show? Would you do one together?

Osbourne: "I would love to do a Broadway show with him."

Van Amstel: "If you look at 'Chicago', because I know Kel wants to play the role of Roxie Hart, I've been looking into the role of the lawyer, because he has a little bit of dancing and just a little bit of singing."

Osbourne: "Billy Flynn."

Van Amstel: "Yeah, Billy Flynn. It's funny, I don't really want to be one of those dancers. I would love to have a role, where you almost play husband and wife. But at the same time, everybody knows the story of how we got together."

Osbourne: "I think you should be Mr. Cellophane. That's a much more fun role."

Van Amstel: "Actually, that is your husband. There are so many things that could happen. Instead of doing a show that is already existing, maybe we could find people who would want to create a new show around our abilities. I think in this recession, we need something new, fresh. Give people courage to do things they've never done before."

Osbourne: "After this show ends, this is not the last of me and Louis. I don't ever want to stop working with Louis on one thing or another. It's very rare in your career, and this is something I learned at a very young age, watching my parents, in the music industry, in any kind of business that you meet someone you have a connection with and somebody you really trust. I would trust him with my life. And when you have that, you should never let go of it. There are too many shifty people in this world."

Van Amstel: "I think we're both going to go through withdrawal after the show is over. I need my Kelly time!"

Osbourne: "Somebody said to me the other day, 'What are you going to do when Louis is not there?' I said, 'Stalk him'. 'Liar, you're at home.' 'No I'm not.' 'Why were you at the Bread Bar without me?' [laughs]"

Not a bad thing to be addicted to, right?

Van Amstel: "But it's funny that the people on Facebook and Twitter are asking those questions. 'Are you guys doing something? You should be doing something after the show.' But we know things will come our way and maybe we'll do other TV things or theater, or...who knows?"

Osbourne: "It started off being like, 'Louis, what you've done with Kelly is amazing.' And now I'm starting to get all these messages saying, 'Kelly, you bring out a side of Louis that we've never seen. Thank you so much.' Or, 'I fell in love with Louis because of you. I never saw that side of him.' And what's really amazing is that he brings out something in me that I never knew existed. I feel like I do the same with him. And that's what so special about our relationship.

You know, we've screamed at each other, but it's like an intense discussion, not screaming at him....we've never, ever ever gotten into a fight."

What advice would you have for another star who's considering being on the show?

Osbourne: "If you're not willing, if you're not going to play the game, if you're not going to put a hundred percent into it, don't do it, because it makes you feel vulnerable. It makes you terrified. You get so nervous, you get so passionate about it, and it starts to get really hard...if you've watched the show, you know when people don't play the game, and try and change it and make it more comfortable for them, it never works. They get kicked off really early in the show."

Van Amstel: "And also from a professional point of view, and being on the show many, many years, what is so much fun...it's a reality show, so it's really about the celebrity's personality. But at the same time, because each dance is so different, you can decide for yourself what kind of character you want to play. You can write your own script. The dancer might create the dance, but in the end, together with the celebrity, you can actually create a character.

We definitely, this season, have taken advantage of either the music or the era like Joel Grey, we went with it with costumes...it's so much fun."

Osbourne: "This week for example, everyone has a generation dance. We're doing a sixties jive, someone else is doing a futuristic paso, someone else is doing a rock and roll paso, and then there's a nineties something. It's different like that. So what I did was, I brought forth images of Goldie Hawn when she was a go-go dancer...all different videos like 'Kinky Boots'. We looked at 'Quadrophenia' and mod pictures. I bring the visual side...the wardrobe side to it. And Louis, I showed him a couple of videos and he brings the choreography, and that's how we work together. When it comes to picking out clothes, I'm really good at decades and styles...what generation is what, because I love fashion so much. I look up stuff on my computer and save it for later dates, and I had a lot of stuff that I was really excited to show Louis...for example, we had the Charleston and we thought, 'Chicago'. We thought Liza (Minelli) and then we thought Joel Grey from 'Cabaret' and then we got our costume. We think of the story before we put it all together."

Van Amstel: "And I think that's why a new celebrity would want to do it. That's the fun. It's like a little playground. You can be a rebel. You can be sophisticated...but if you're boring, this is not your show."

'Dancing with the Stars' airs Mondays 8/7c - The results show airs Tuesdays 9/8c on ABC.

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