Appearing last week on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” the new talk series hosted by Piers Morgan on the rebranded TalkTV in the U.K., Sharon Osbourne sat down with Morgan to discuss her ouster from the CBS talk show last year. In their conversation, Morgan noted that Osbourne never said she agreed with what he said around the time, specifically his comments in reference to Meghan Markle and her appearance with husband Prince Harry on an Oprah Winfrey special that shed light on alleged racism within the Royal family. “My whole point was that you are a journalist and a celebrity, so, therefore, you’re paid to give your opinion – the same as I was paid to give my opinion. That’s why we’re there. And freedom of speech,” Osbourne told Morgan.
After she was asked if she ever thought that within days of her supporting Morgan that she would have thought she’d be out of a job after working at “The Talk” for 10 years, Osbourne corrected Morgan, saying, “I was actually in my 11th year. I never thought in my wildest dreams that my career, after 50 years, would have ended that way. Did I want my legacy to be I was fired because accused of being a racist?”
Asked if the experience ever scared her, Osbourne shared, “I don’t scare easily, you know that, but some of the comments that were coming through on my social media was so horrific about cutting my throat, my husband’s, even the dogs – they wanted to kill my dogs – and then they started on Ozzy, on his site and then my kids, and I just thought, ‘This is just insanity.’” She added, “I went back to CBS and I said, ‘Not only can I not earn a living but now I have to have 24-hour security because of you,’ and they go like, ‘So, what?’”
Osbourne further told Morgan that as a result of the dustup with her co-hosts on the daytime talk show, the phone stopped ringing in terms of endorsements, charities she was involved with, and other job prospects and opportunities. “The phone never rang. That was it. You are untouchable,” she said of what happened.
Morgan then brought up “Cancel Culture” and how there are those who doubt its existence. “What makes me so mad is I’m in a blessed situation that no matter what happens to my career my husband will always take care of me, but what happens to a person that, you know, say I didn’t have a husband but then I had kids to bring up, right. What happens to people like that who are canceled or fired because they’ve used the wrong term or something’s taken out of context and they’re fired. To the average person, what happens to that person?”
As for whether or not she’s kept in touch with Sheryl Underwood, who remains on the CBS panel even today, particularly whether Osbourne ever apologized to Underwood, Osbourne said she reached out to Underwood but didn’t receive any direct acknowledgment from her. “I sent her three texts of apologies and she never got back, and then she went onto national TV and said that I hadn’t apologized. So, what I did was, I actually on my social media printed the texts, and then she said, ‘Well that’s not an apology because I want it in a phone call and she never called me.’”
Morgan was aghast, wondering what she ever had to apologize for, saying the experience was incredibly tough for Osbourne but thankfully she had her family to support her. “It was tough for me and it did affect me mentally,” said Osbourne. “It honestly did because after everything that I’ve felt, all my dreams I had achieved. Everything that I’ve wanted to do I had achieved and did I want my legacy for my family to be, ‘Oh, well, your nana was on television but everybody said she was a racist so she never went on television again. And that kind of ate me up. I must have cried for three months.”
Osbourne then revealed that the show’s creator, former executive producer, and co-host Sara Gilbert helped her get through it by telling Osbourne she needed help and that she needed to go somewhere, recommending somewhere (not revealed in conversation), and “then I was doing therapy and ketamine treatment.”
Morgan asked Osbourne if she was ever suicidal at any point after things went down, to which Osbourne stated, “I didn’t want to give CBS the satisfaction.”
Osbourne is now co-hosting a U.K. version of a show aptly titled “The Talk” on TalkTV but recently had to fly back to Los Angeles to take care of her husband, Ozzy, who was recently diagnosed with COVID-19.
To watch Osbourne’s full conversation with Morgan and to hear more about what she’s up to these days, watch their full conversation below.