Sharon Osbourne talks to Yours about regrets, friendship and husband Ozzy’s health struggles…
She turns 72 later this year, so you’d be forgiven for thinking Sharon Osbourne might start taking life a little easy. But far from it. In fact, the TV personality is on the move, both in her personal and her home life. Alongside husband Ozzy (75), she is relocating back from LA, where they have lived for more than 25 years, to their house in rural Buckinghamshire.
So, why is Sharon returning to her roots? “It’s just time,” she says. “I still feel very English – I’ve never felt American.
More of my adult life has been spent there, but I’ve never acquired an American accent. I’m British and I want to come home. I look at the years and years I’ve lived in LA as being permanently on holiday. But America is changing, it’s becoming more scary. Everywhere feels jittery right now, but the UK perhaps less so.” No doubt the decision hasn’t been straightforward, partly because it involves moving further away from family. Sharon and Ozzy are parents to Aimee, Kelly and Jack, and grandparents to Jack’s four girls and Kelly’s one-year-old son, Sidney.
“They’re the best thing about getting old,” says Sharon, who adds that Ozzy feels “a little anxious” about the impending distance between him and his brood. The rocker, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2003, is also struggling with his own health issues. At first his condition progressed extremely slowly, but that changed when he got up in the night five years ago, tripped over in the dark and fell flat on his back on the tiled bathroom floor. He has now had five major operations on his spine.
The fall also acted as a trigger, sending his Parkinson’s into overdrive. “He’s gone through terrible depressions,” admits Sharon. “And, when you’re not in a good state of mind, it’s hard for the body to heal. It’s not been easy watching someone you love go through such agony, physically. It’s heartbreaking. You can’t even put it into words. But he’s getting there. His mental state is much improved.
“I think it will help him to be UK-based because, once he gets home and feels the love that’s here for him, he’ll find that very healing. And the grandchildren can come and visit. It’s not like he’s never going to see them again.”
For Sharon, the move also brings exciting professional opportunities. The BBC is putting together a documentary charting their move, and she’s set to become a panellist on a show called The Talk on TalkTV. She is also embarking on a mini-tour in London and Birmingham with her one-woman show, Cut the Crap.
“This show is really about my life story,” she says. “And I’ve ce
