SHE’S bursting back on to our screens with current affairs panel show The Talk.
As we revealed yesterday, former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne will host the prime-time series on weekday nights following Piers Morgan’s flagship slot on brand new TV channel TalkTV.
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Today, in an exclusive chat, Sharon, 69, spills the beans on the on-air dust-up that ended her 11-year career on a US daytime TV talk show.
She reveals why she can’t wait to get back on the telly and shares her joy at moving back to the UK with husband Ozzy.
A year ago, Sharon was riding high as one of the big names on US chat show The Talk.
She had been there for 11 years, had her own dressing room and was surrounded by people who not only watched her back but, in many cases, had become firm friends.
Or so she thought.
But on March 10, 2021, it took just 20 minutes of live television for it all to come crashing down.
And it was all because she defended her friend and former Britain’s Got Talent co-star Piers Morgan’s right to express the opinion he “didn’t believe a word” Meghan Markle had said during her infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey.
She tells me now: “It was supposed to be a chat about freedom of speech. I don’t agree with everything Piers says — he doesn’t agree with everything I say.
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“But you respect that everybody has their own opinion, and that’s it.”
The TV discussion, however, suddenly took a different turn when fellow panellist Sheryl Underwood asked her: “What would you say to people who may feel that, while you are standing by your friend, it appears that you gave validation or safe haven to something that he has uttered that is racist, even if you don’t agree?”
Crying hysterically
The insinuation that she was somehow condoning racism “blind-sided” Sharon.
She says: “Sheryl was someone I had sat next to on the show for ten and a half years, somebody I perceived was a friend, had been in and out of my home and was friendly with my entire family. I was in shock.
“When the show went to a commercial break I was crying hysterically, saying to Sheryl, ‘Why are you doing this? What’s going on?’.
“But she turned her a**e on me and pretended to talk to whoever was in her earpiece.
“So I stood up and said, ‘F*** you, Sheryl. F*** you for this’.
“I say ‘F*** you’ to a lot of people who are my friend and if you’re a real friend and you don’t agree, you answer.”
Sharon says she later discovered The Talk’s producers had initially asked panellist Elaine Welteroth to lead the questioning.
The star adds: “But she kept saying, ‘Where’s the evidence that Piers is a racist? Where’s the evidence? Show me’. Of course, they couldn’t show her anything because there wasn’t anything.”
Sheryl was someone I had sat next to on the show for ten and a half years, somebody I perceived was a friend, had been in and out of my home and was friendly with my entire family. I was in shock.
After the show came off air, Sharon says, she was “dragged” into a room with Sheryl and the show’s two main producers, who told her that CBS executives “made us do it”.
“I walked out of the meeting and told the whole lot of them to go f*** themselves,” says Sharon.
“They called me when I got home and I was on the phone for 40 minutes, screaming at them and asking, ‘Why did you do this? You were my friends’.”
Although she made a conscious decision to stay away from social media, those close to her became concerned when the TV favourite received death threats.
Speaking from her home in LA, Sharon — who has daughters Aimee, 38, and Kelly, 37, and son Jack, 36, and three grandchildren, says: “I had people saying, ‘We’re going to come in the night and cut you and your husband’, or, ‘We’re going to cut your dogs into pieces’.
“They said horrible things about my kids too. It went on and on. We had to get 24-hour security.
“I sold my cars and got an unidentifiable runaround, and I remember going to the mall and being recognised by some girls.
“I was so terrified that they might take a swing at me that I went straight home.
“I didn’t go out for ages because I just couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t get out of bed because I’m a depressive anyway. The only place I went was to see a therapist.”
After a friend recommended ketamine therapy, Sharon underwent three months of treatment. She says: “They give you a shot of ketamine.
I had people saying, ‘We’re going to come in the night and cut you and your husband’, or, ‘We’re going to cut your dogs into pieces’. They said horrible things about my kids too. It went on and on. We had to get 24-hour security.
“It relaxes you and takes you to a place where you can’t bulls**t because you’re not in control of your mind.
“It puts you in a calm state so you can talk without having an emotional response to certain questions. It helps you figure stuff out.”
Given that Sharon has spoken frankly about suicidal feelings in the past, did she reach this point again?
“No, it was different. I didn’t feel betrayed by a loved one, it was a friend and a corporation. It’s a different feeling. It’s anger.”
After the incident, The Talk was put on hiatus for a month and Sharon suggested doing a one-off special with experts in racism and sensitivity training “going through what we all said and coming to a conclusion so the viewer could make their own decision”.
She explains: “Because what did the viewer take away from that show where I was accused of being racist? Nothing except ugliness and women fighting each other with no conclusion.
“But they refused. We were going back and forth, then they came to me and said, ‘You’re on permanent suspension. We don’t know if we’ll ever take you back, it depends on how much you repent for your actions’.”
‘Sheryl doesn’t exist’
CBS eventually issued a statement saying: “Sharon Osbourne has decided to leave The Talk.
“As part of our review, we concluded that Sharon’s behaviour toward her co-hosts during the March 10 episode did not align with our values for a respectful workplace.”
With a wry laugh, Sharon says: “It was because I said ‘F*** you’ to Sheryl in the commercial break. Like no one had ever heard that before on a studio floor. Do you know how many times the whole of this studio has been in hysterics at me swearing?”
No, it was different. I didn’t feel betrayed by a loved one, it was a friend and a corporation. It’s a different feeling. It’s anger.
So how does she feel about Whoopi Goldberg only receiving a two-week suspension from panel show The View after denying the Holocaust was about race?
She says: “I know Whoopi and I respect her as an artist and a woman. She has apologised, she’s doing all the right things — and good for her.
“We all say things which aren’t factually correct, don’t we? But you apologise and life moves on.”
Sharon wrote an open apology to anyone who felt that she had been offensive during the row on The Talk and explained that she had, “Allowed my fear and horror of being accused of being racist to take over”. She tells me she texted Sheryl three times to talk but her former friend never called her back.
Has she seen her since?
“No, and I never want to. In my world she doesn’t exist.”
Looking back, would she do anything differently?
“Yes. I would have stood up, looked in the camera and said, ‘Why are you doing this to me because we never rehearsed this, I wasn’t prepared. There has to be a reason why and I want the viewers at home to know they’re hijacking me’. That’s what I would have done.
“I played that scenario over and over in my mind for about eight months, and the therapy helped me to stop obsessing.
“The thing I didn’t want to do was let it live within me. I had to get it out. I had to get it gone from my brain and I did. I worked really hard at it.
I know Whoopi and I respect her as an artist and a woman. She has apologised, she’s doing all the right things — and good for her.
“I know that I’m not a racist. Never have been and never will. I judge people as people. Are you a good guy, or are you a bad guy? That’s it.
“But I don’t want to come across as a victim. I’m not.
“Hey, it happened and I was caught in something that wasn’t professional.
“But I’ve worked my way through it, I’m fine, and I’m not ashamed of anything.”
This spring, she and rocker Ozzy are returning to live in the UK, though they will be going back and forth to the US to see their grandchildren.
She says: “We were planning to move back anyway, but getting this new job with TalkTV is the icing on the cake. I haven’t worked in television for almost a year and I have a lot to say!
“I wanted to re-evaluate my career and what I wanted to do.
“Of course, it rocked my foundations as a 69-year-old woman being forced to exit in the manner I did from CBS.
“So I wanted to take this new job because of the inclusive environment and the culture it encompasses that allows me to have conversations that are reflective of who I really am.
“TalkTV understands fully who I am and who I am not.
“And they accept me for who I am and what I represent.”
Her new show promises “outspoken views and straight-talking debate”.
Sounds like the indomitable Mrs O will be right at home.
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