On outs. Sharon Osbourne opens up a year after leaving The Talk, claiming her career has been hit hard by the backlash.
“I was told: “You’re on a permanent basis.” We don’t think you’ve repented enough. And we’ll decide if you’ll ever come back,” the 69-year—old TV host recalled in a recent interview with The Sunday Times, reflecting on his dismissal from the CBS daytime series. “And I said, ‘Well, who’s going to make that decision?’ And they said, “We can’t tell you.”
Osbourne joined The Talk in 2010, and her scandalous departure from the show apparently slowed down the arrival of other offers. “My phone, as for my television career [in America], did not exist, not a single call. Nothing,” she said. “In England and Australia, this has never changed. It’s like I died here.”
The former X Factor judge said she was forced to hire round-the-clock security after the scandal, saying: “[People] said they were going to come in at night, slit my throat, slit Ozzy’s throat. , cut the throats of my dogs. …I just couldn’t stop crying because all I was thinking about was everything I’ve been through in my life and now they’re calling me a racist. It’s crazy.”
In March 2021, the former Celebrity Apprentice contestant was criticized when she and her then co-hosts discussed a meeting between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on CBS, during which they accused the royal family of racist behavior. Osbourne defended her friend Piers Morgan’s opinion of the drama, but Cheryl Underwood believed that the 57-year-old TV presenter’s support was “confirmation” of the “meaning” of Morgan’s remarks.
“I feel like I’m about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend who is considered a racist by many, so that makes me a racist,” the Extreme author replied. “For me, at 68, I have to turn around and say, “I’m not a racist, what does it matter to me?”
After the televised conflict, Osborne apologized “to any person of color I offended,” writing: “I panicked, felt overwhelmed, took a defensive stance and allowed my fear and horror to be accused of racism.”
Former panelists Holly Robinson Pete and Leah Remini later accused Osborne of making racially insensitive comments backstage at The Talk. The network conducted an internal investigation as the show took a short break and later announced that the UK native would not be returning to the set.
Osborne’s publicist Howard Bragman denied the allegations against her at the time. “Sharon is disappointed, but unperturbed and hardly surprised by the lies, the reworking of history and the bitterness that manifests itself at this moment,” the statement said. “She will survive this as she always has, and her heart will remain open and kind because she refuses to let others break her. She thanks her family, friends and fans for supporting her and knowing her true nature.”
In her first interview after she was dropped from the series, the Osborne graduate told Bill Maher that she was “hurt” and “angry” about what happened. “I’ve been called so many names in my life… but being a racist is something I don’t accept,” she said in April 2021.
A year after the controversy, Osborne is still shocked by what happens “when people turn on you en masse” in the public eye. “Everyone is afraid to say something wrong, that someone will take and sell,” she told The Sunday Times, reporting that she and her husband Ozzy Osbourne are leaving Los Angeles. “That’s no way to live, damn it. I don’t want that. I don’t need it. …It’s time for us to go home. I don’t want to be judged.”
