Kelly Osbourne has asked people to “stop kicking me while I’m down” after her appearance at an awards night reignited cruel commentary.

Osbourne, 41, appeared at the BRIT Awards – the UK’s top pop ‌music honours – alongside her mother Sharon on Saturday (local time) to accept a lifetime achievement award for her father, the late Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne.

Osbourne died last year of a heart attack at 76 after a legendary heavy metal career.

But their appearance has provoked a fresh storm of comment about Kelly Osbourne’s body. There has been a wave of posts about her weight, with some concerns for her health and others expressing suspicions about Ozempic use.

On Sunday, Osbourne hit back in an Instagram post.

“There is a special kind of cruelty in harming someone who is clearly going through something,” she wrote, accusing critics of “kicking me while I’m down, doubting my pain, spreading my struggles as gossip, and turning your back when I need support and love most”.

“I’m currently going through the hardest time in my life,” Osbourne added. “I should not even have to defend myself. But I won’t sit here and allow myself to be dehumanised in such a way!”

Osbourne scorched her critics in an Instagram post. Photo: AAP

Her words echo posts in early January, when Osbourne also hit back after similar comments.

“What do you expect from me? What do you expect me to look like right now?” she wrote at the time.

“The fact that I’m getting out of bed and facing my life and trying to be more than enough, I should be commended for that.

“For example, you say that I look ill. Well, I am ill right now. My life is completely flipped upside down.

“I don’t understand how people expect me to bounce back and look like everything is just fine in my life when it’s not.”

Osbourne said she’d received much “lovely, lovely, lovely” support since her father’s death but she was also shocked at the “disgusting, horrible, mean, rude” things that some people had said.

“It’s absolutely devastating that women can’t support other women,” she wrote.

“They’d rather tear them down when their dad just died. It’s disgusting, and I’ve had enough of it. So, go f— yourself.”

Those comments came just after Sharon Osbourne told British broadcaster Piers Morgan that Kelly had struggled to eat since her dad’s death.

Kelly Osbourne with her father Ozzy. Photo: AAP

Last week, Kelly slammed criticism of her body after photos from London Fashion Week stirred more derogatory commentary. She also shared to her Instagram story a screenshot of a comment that called her “tooooo thin and fragile”, compared her to “a dead body” and said she “Looks like she’s going to see her dad soon.”

Elsewhere, singer Olivia Dean was the big winner at the BRIT Awards, picking up four prizes.

Dean, who alongside singer Lola Young led nominations with five nods each, triumphed in the first ‌award of the night, song of the year, for Rein Me In, a collaboration with rocker Sam Fender.

The 26-year-old, known ‌for her soulful voice and music that blends R&B, pop and neo-soul, won pop act, artist of the year and album of the year for her second studio album, The Art of Loving.

Fender also ​won alternative/rock act, while Messy singer Young won breakthrough artist.

Rock band Wolf Alice won group of the year.

-with AAP