Sharon Osbourne

She is a BULLY

Sharon Osbourne
Osbourne at the Concert Industry Consortium conference at the Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, California, (2007).
Born	Sharon Rachel Levy (1952-10-09) 9 October 1952 Brixton, London, England
Occupation(s)	Music manager Television personality
Years active	1991 – present
Spouse	Ozzy Osbourne (since 1982)
Children	Aimee Osbourne (born 1983) Kelly Osbourne (born 1984) Jack Osbourne (born 1985)
Website	http://www.sharonosbourne.com

Sharon Rachel Osbourne (née Levy, previously Arden; born 9 October 1952) is a British music manager and promoter, television personality and presenter. She is the wife of singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne.

She came into public prominence after appearing in The Osbournes, a reality television show that followed her family's daily life. Osbourne later became a judge on the talent shows The X Factor and America's Got Talent. Her autobiography, Extreme, has sold in excess of two million copies.

After the success of The Osbournes and The X Factor, hosting her own chat shows and securing advertising contracts, Osbourne was ranked as the 25th richest woman in Britain on the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List. Sharon and husband, Ozzy Osbourne, are currently ranked as the 724th richest people in Britain with an estimated joint wealth of £110 million. Sharon Osbourne previously revived Ozzy's metal career and she stands as the founder of Ozzfest.

Music manager

Sharon met future husband Ozzy Osbourne at the age of 18 while working for her father, Don Arden, who managed Black Sabbath. When Ozzy was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979, Sharon Osbourne took over his management from the Arden organization and then started to date Ozzy. Sharon also suggested former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio to replace Ozzy Osbourne in 1979.

Proving to be as hardworking and ruthless as her father, Osbourne coordinated the recruitment of a technically gifted backing band, these members were Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, and Lee Kerslake for the recording of The Blizzard of Ozz and, by engaging proven songwriters, helped Ozzy launch what became a highly successful solo career. It was rumoured that Osbourne employed some of her father's tactics where one promoter was kneed in the groin after failing to produce due payments, and Osbourne single-handedly ruined a company's computer system after they sold illegal merchandise.

Ozzfest

See also: Ozzfest

A series of high selling albums and world tours followed through the 1980s, eventually making Ozzy a popular metal act. In 1996 she created the Ozzfest summer touring festival. It went on to become a regular rock occasion and with a 10th anniversary in 2006. In 2007, she announced that the tickets would be free, to allow more people the opportunity to attend the concert. The tickets had previously reached prices of £76 ($150). Ozzfest grossed $20 million each year and is credited with launching the careers of Marilyn Manson, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot. Prior to the founding of Ozzfest, Osbourne approached Lollapalooza, another rock festival, to request that Ozzy play at that year's festival, only to be rejected and told that Ozzy was "uncool" and too drugged up. It was then that she decided to launch her own festival.

Sharon Osbourne Management

In light of Osbourne's success managing Ozzy, she branched out into managing other acts by creating Sharon Osbourne Management. The new company, with Osbourne as its sole employee, managed artists such as Coal Chamber, The Smashing Pumpkins, Motörhead, and Gary Moore. Osbourne also claimed to have worked briefly with Queen before being fired by Freddie Mercury. In the late 1990s Osbourne co-managed a band called Cube, with Cud guitarist Mike Dunphy. Cube were signed to Polydor Records but had limited success. She has also turned down career guidance requests from Fred Durst, Guns N' Roses and Courtney Love.

Television career

The Osbournes

Osbourne gained celebrity status as one of the stars of MTV's reality show, The Osbournes, which was known nationwide and followed her family's daily life. As the person who negotiated with MTV to screen the show, she is often credited with bringing about her husband's emergence from heavy metal icon into mainstream celebrity. The show began airing in early 2002, and when, in July 2002, Osbourne was diagnosed with cancer, she insisted that filming should continue. The final episode of the show aired in the US on 21 March 2005. MTV's British affiliate has been airing the show since 2003. The show brought MTV its highest ever ratings in both America and Britain.

The Osbornes' Beverly Hills home (made famous on the show) has since been sold and the Osbournes have taken up residence in another home in Beverly Hills. Her Beverly Hills home was later seen in The X Factor during series two. The show saw that Osbourne was responsible for the livelihood of 12 dogs and employs a dog walker named Cherie. From the mid 1990s until the end of The Osbournes in 2005, she was primarily based in Los Angeles with the rest of her family. Osbourne earned an estimated £11.5 million from The Osbournes.

The Sharon Osbourne Show (US version)

In 2003 Osbourne became the host of her own television talk show, The Sharon Osbourne Show, which was syndicated to various US channels and also shown in the UK on Sky One. The show was meant to be a reflection of her personality and home life – similar to her reality show but with the inclusion of guest interviews and performances. During the episodes, she conducted some of her interviews on a giant bed.

However, the ratings were never successful and critics panned her inability to perform the basic tasks required of a talk show host, such as reading cue cards and conducting interviews. The show was canceled in early 2004 after one season.

The X Factor

See also: The X Factor

Osbourne was a judge and mentor on the UK reality TV talent show The X Factor every year, from 2004 through to 2007. In the first series she mentored the 16–24s and chose Roberta Howett, Cassie Compton and Tabby Callaghan to represent her in the live rounds of the show. The best placed of these was Tabby, who finished third overall. The final was contested between Simon Cowell's act Steve Brookstein and Louis Walsh's act G4, with Steve winning. Osbourne's outburst against Steve on the night of the final is widely credited with helping him to win, although according to her autobiography he was well ahead at all stages of the voting.

In the second series she mentored the 25-and-overs, and selected Andy Abraham, Brenda Edwards, Chico Slimani and Maria Lawson to contest the final rounds. Andy Abraham finished in second place to Louis Walsh's act Shayne Ward. During this series, the judges were again required to bring the selected candidates to their homes. Osbourne chose her Beverly Hills home as a suitable location, which saw Osbourne inviting her neighbours and husband Ozzy Osbourne to attend live performances by the candidates. During Chico's performance, he jumped into her functioning fountain with a live microphone, and proceeded to splash water.

Osbourne also appeared in the spin-off show The X Factor: Battle of the Stars. She was not required to choose her celebrity singing contestants but was selected to manage the 16–24s which were made up of Nikki Sanderson, Matt Stevens and Michelle Marsh. During the show, with Osbourne being a close friend of Victoria Beckham, she engaged in a feud with contestant Rebecca Loos, due to her recent claim of having an affair with David Beckham. Osbourne insulted Loos after one of her performances saying, "You should try doing tomorrow's performance with your knickers on because it will help warm up your voice. You have a very bad vibe that comes from you." After the incident, it took a lot of persuading to convince Loos to stay in the competition after being publicly humiliated.

In series three of The X Factor in 2006, she was mentoring the 25-and-overs, and selected Ben Mills, Dionne Mitchell, Robert Allen and Kerry McGregor. Kerry and Dionne were voted out in a double elimination on 28 October, Robert was voted out on 18 November and Ben was voted out on 9 December, sending Osbourne out of the competition. During the filming of the third series, Osbourne lived at the Dorchester Hotel in central London.

Osbourne was criticised for her outbursts on the show, where before a live show in series three she reportedly spoke out against Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? presenter Chris Tarrant, who was in the show's audience prior to filming. Tarrant had made a joke about Ozzy Osbourne to which Sharon Osbourne took offence, but most of her outburst focused on criticising Tarrant's recent infidelity to his wife Ingrid from whom he was in the process of separating. It was rumoured that Simon Cowell, fellow judge and creator of the show, was displeased with her performance in series three, and was thinking of replacing her and Louis Walsh for the next series. However, it was confirmed that Osbourne had been contracted to return for the fourth series of the show.

She then appeared in the fourth series as of 18 August 2007 along with judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and the new judge, Dannii Minogue. She mentored the girls category during the show and subsequently chose Alisha Bennett, Emily Nakanda and Kimberley Southwick to represent her in the live rounds of the competition. In the first week of the live finals on 20 October, two of Osbourne's acts were in the bottom two. Osbourne responded by saying "What I did was no good - and I think I'm going home now." and she refused to play a role in the decision about which act should be eliminated. Kimberley Southwick was then voted out by the other three judges, while Osbourne claimed that she was quitting the show. However on The Paul O'Grady Show aired on 23 October 2007 Osbourne confirmed she would return on the next episode and stated that it is part of her personality to say things in the heat of the moment and not to contrive anything that she says. Two weeks into the live shows, a number of happy slapping videos of Emily Nakanda appeared in the media, apparently showing her beating another teenage girl. This led to Nakanda being withdrawn from The X Factor due to the media attention the videos brought. On 17 November Alisha Bennett was voted out of the competition, leaving Osbourne with no acts half way through the competition.

On 6 June 2008 it was announced in a statement on behalf of Osbourne that she has decided to step down as an X Factor judge after four series on the show. The statement read "Sharon would like to thank the wonderful British public for their enormous support during what's been an exciting ride. She would also like to take this opportunity to thank Simon Cowell and ITV while wishing them all the best for the next series." A spokesman from ITV commented "She has been a tremendous judge and mentor on the programme, but we respect her wish to leave and wish her the very best." Osbourne was replaced by Cheryl Cole.

During an interview on Piers Morgan's Life Stories, broadcast on 22 February 2009, Osbourne admitted that the reason for her departure from The X Factor was her relationship with Dannii Minogue. She stated "I didn't enjoy working with her at all and didn't fancy the prospect of spending six months sitting next to her."

The Sharon Osbourne Show (ITV)

In 2006, UK TV network ITV commissioned a new Sharon Osbourne chat show, initially to be called Mrs Osbourne Presents, but eventually just named The Sharon Osbourne Show. Osbourne signed a deal with ITV for a reputed £2 million.

The show began on Tuesday 29 August 2006, and was scheduled to run for six weeks in the 5 pm weekday timeslot. The premiere episode proved a close competition as the show received 1.9 million viewers with 17% share – 400,000 viewers (and 3% share) ahead of Richard & Judy on Channel 4. Her second show attracted 2.1 million viewers.

However, ratings appeared to decrease after Channel 4 moved its game show Deal Or No Deal, hosted by Noel Edmonds, into the timeslot, with Sharon managing 1.2m viewers compared to Deal Or No Deal's 2.9m. Channel 4's The New Paul O'Grady Show returned on Monday 25 September 2006 with 2.3 million viewers compared to Osbourne's 1.6 million.

America's Got Talent

Osbourne joined the judging panel on the second season of America's Got Talent, along with Piers Morgan and David Hasselhoff, replacing the singer Brandy.

The season premiered in the United States on 5 June 2007. In her first episode, Osbourne came into a conflict with Piers Morgan when she felt he judged a child contestant too harshly. She threatened to leave the show in the middle of filming, saying "I didn’t sign up for this", but was talked out of it. The incident was shown on air. Osbourne has since returned to the third and now fourth season of the television show.

Rock of Love: Charm School

Sharon hosted the second season of Rock of Love: Charm School with co-hosts Riki Rachtman and Daniella Clarke on VH1. Sharon had a physical altercation on 13 December 2008 with contestant Megan Hauserman on the reunion special for the show after Megan made derogatory statements about Sharon's husband, Ozzy. Hauserman reportedly filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department and has since filed a lawsuit against Osbourne, claiming battery, negligence and infliction of emotional distress.

Osbournes: Reloaded

In July 2008 Fox announced that the Osbourne family would be hosting a new variety show titled Osbournes: Reloaded (working title was 'Osbournes: Loud and Dangerous'). The show started filming at CBS Studios in Hollywood in December 2008 before a live audience. The show premiered in March 2009. Fremantle Media North America is producing the show. The show was cancelled after its premiere episode.

Other

On January 2003, Osbourne and the rest of her family hosted the 30th Annual American Music Awards. The night was marked with constant "bleeping" due to some of the lewd and raunchy remarks made by both Ozzy and Sharon. Additionally, the night was met with some controversy, as critics panned their hosting and presenter Patricia Heaton walked out midway in disgust. Sharon later joked about the incident on her talk show, saying that she and Ozzy were banned from ABC ever since.

Osbourne has appeared as a guest star in an episode of the NBC comedy Will & Grace where she played a bartender in the spring episode "No Sex N' in the City" in 2004. In October 2004, Osbourne announced that she and husband Ozzy would be teaming up for yet another MTV show entitled Battle for Ozzfest, in which a group of unsigned bands battle it out for a spot on the 2005 Ozzfest tour.

In January 2005 she was contracted to feature in a television advertising campaign for UK supermarket chain, Asda and later in 2007, Osbourne became the new face of Galabingo when she was featured in television advertisements promoting the gambling website. She has co-hosted one of the Royal Variety Performances with Jonathan Ross. Osbourne appeared in Days of our Lives, It's a Boy Girl Thing and has also provided a voice for a character in Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.

On Friday 15 June 2007, Osbourne guest hosted The Friday Night Project with Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr. Osbourne also made a cameo appearance on 23 June 2007 in an episode of the science fiction series Doctor Who. The episode "The Sound of Drums" saw her appearing in a spoof party political broadcast, which featured testimonials from British celebrities such as Osbourne and the band McFly showing their support for Mr Saxon to become Prime Minister. Osbourne has appeared frequently on Children in Need in order to raise money for charity.

On 20 February 2008 she co-hosted the 28th edition of the BRIT Awards at Earls Court in London, along with her husband Ozzy Osbourne and her daughter, Kelly Osbourne. During the awards Sharon Osbourne caused controversy and sparked complaints by calling Vic Reeves, who was presenting one of the awards, a "piss head" and a "bastard" after he appeared to be drunk, although he claimed that he was having trouble reading the autocue.

On 22 August 2008, Sharon Osbourne took part in the 2008 MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival in Scotland. Osbourne has also appeared in Simple Plan's video "Save You" For being a cancer survivor.

Sharon was featured on Piers Morgan's Life Stories airing on 22 February 2009 on ITV1 and, in April 2009, announced to friends that she would "definitely" be appearing in the forthcoming season of Strictly Come Dancing, having already been signed up.

Autobiographies

Sharon Osbourne's first autobiography, Extreme (co-authored by Penelope Dening), was published in October 2005 and tells of her difficult childhood growing up with her father, Don Arden, and also documents the highs and lows of her marriage to husband Ozzy Osbourne, shedding light on areas of her life previously not commented on. Domestic violence, drug abuse, alcoholism, affairs, bribery, colon cancer, robberies, a plane crash, therapy and cosmetic surgery are also documented in the autobiography.

Published by Time WarnerBooks, it went straight to Number 1 on the Sunday Times Bestseller List (UK) where it remained for 15 weeks and sold over 621,000 copies in hardback, becoming the biggest-selling autobiography since British records began, beating the previous record set by David Beckham's autobiography by 100,000 copies. "Both the heroic vulgarity and the love are vividly captured in this pungent and distinctive autobiography," opined the Sunday Times, whilst the Irish Times considered it to be "truly unputdownable".

In March 2006 it won Biography of the Year at the British Book Awards. The autobiography has proceeded to sell in excess of two million copies which has become the most successful female autobiography ever.

In the follow up to her award-winning bestseller Extreme, Survivor was released in the UK on the 4 October 2007.

Awards and recognition

• In 2002, Sharon Osbourne and husband Ozzy were invited to the White House Correspondents' Association dinner by Fox News Channel correspondent Greta Van Susteren for that year's event.
• Sharon Osbourne and Ozzy Osbourne were honoured for their contribution to the music industry at a ceremony in London when the couple won a Silver Clef award.
• Osbourne was voted "the most amazing woman of 2003", according to a poll published by a website for women. Sharon took almost a third of the votes cast in the poll by Handbag.com. More than 7,000 votes were cast in a range of categories.
• During Osbourne's time battling cancer, she attended an award ceremony to collect a gong for the success of her family's television show The Osbournes. She attended the Creative Arts Emmys in Los Angeles with her daughter Kelly Osbourne, to receive the best reality television show award.
• In late 2004, Osbourne attended the Woman of the Year awards in London to collect an award that she had previously won at the 2002 event, but was not able to attend due to illness.
• Osbourne was voted Freemans Celebrity Mum of the Year in 2006, fending off competition from Jordan, Kate Moss and the Duchess of Cornwall.
• In 2006, Osbourne's autobiography won Biography of the year at the British Book Awards.
• There is a wax figure of Osbourne at Madame Tussauds.
• She is an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Personal life

Osbourne was born in Brixton, London, the daughter of Jewish music promoter and rock and roll entrepreneur Don Arden (born Harry Levy), and his wife Hope, an Irish Catholic. Osbourne is the wife and manager of Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, and together they have three children, Aimee, Kelly and Jack Osbourne. After colon cancer claimed Osbourne's friend, Reagan Erin Marcato, in July 2002, she told the BBC that she had adopted Marcato's 18-year-old son Robert, but she denied legally adopting him five years later when he was sent to live with his father after a nervous breakdown. Robert had been a school friend of Aimee and Kelly for six years.

On the Sunday Times Rich List 2006, Osbourne was listed as the 44th richest woman in Britain and the 60th richest woman on the 2007 list. In the overall British list in 2006, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne appeared together as the 554th richest people with a combined wealth of £100 million. They are currently ranked as the 700th richest people in Britain maintaining the previous wealth estimate of £100 million.

Osbourne was quoted in The Guardian newspaper on 9 December 2006 as having sent her own excrement in Tiffany boxes on more than one occasion to people she felt had unreasonably criticised her or her family. When a journalist criticised Jack and Kelly who were in their early teens, Osbourne sent a box of excrement with a note saying "I heard you've got an eating disorder. Eat this."

Osbourne has stated that the biggest mistake of her life was to have an abortion. By her account, pressure from others, principally her mother, influenced her decision at the young age of seventeen to pursue the procedure.

Parents

Osbourne's father, Don Arden, was a rock and roll entrepreneur and managed Black Sabbath and sacked Ozzy Osbourne from the group. He then resented his daughter for dating Ozzy and managing his career, and therefore let savage dogs on her on her next visit. She was pregnant at the time and subsequently lost the baby. She soon lost contact with her father and did not speak to him for 20 years.

She had a troubled life with her father, who had robbed her, once tried to kill her and also tried to turn Ozzy against her by telling him [Ozzy] that Sharon had tried to seduce him, her own father. Osbourne revealed she was surrounded by violence during her childhood and that it was a normal occurrence to see her father threatening someone, or brandishing a firearm. In an interview in 2001, she commented that her father has never seen her children and that "he never will". Osbourne had told her children that their grandfather was dead, but they unknowingly saw him for the first time when Osbourne was shouting abuse at him on a street in Los Angeles. When asked who she was shouting at, she replied Tony Curtis. They were reunited in 2001 and he then had a role in their reality show The Osbournes. In August 2004 Osbourne stated her father had Alzheimer's disease and she paid for his care in the last years of his life.

Osbourne's relationship with her mother was also damaged. Hope Arden was a cold woman who became even stranger after a serious car accident, something which Osbourne said "unhinged her". When Osbourne was informed of her mother's death, she said "Oh, what a shame" and simply put the phone down.

Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne

Marriage

Sharon Osbourne (then Arden) met husband Ozzy Osbourne at the age of 17 while working for her father. When Ozzy was sacked from Black Sabbath by Sharon's father Don Arden, Sharon started to date him and took over his management. Ozzy and Sharon were married in Maui, Hawaii on 4 July 1982. Their marriage has not been without its trouble or violence. During the early stages of their marriage, they were both fueled by alcohol and drugs and Sharon Osbourne was once arrested for drunk-driving.

The couple used to physically fight regularly and according to Sharon Osbourne they would "beat the shit out of each other". She has described herself as "a beaten woman" when she was at the hands of husband Ozzy where he once knocked out her front teeth. She once retaliated by throwing a full bottle of scotch at his head. The most notorious incident arose in August 1989 when Ozzy was arrested for attempted murder after he had returned from a peace festival in Moscow and tried to strangle Sharon in a haze of alcohol and drugs. After the incident, he spent three months in rehabilitation as a result of his actions, after which time, Sharon Osbourne said she regained her strength in their relationship and did not press charges.

Health

In 1999 Osbourne lost 100 pounds (45 kg) after lap-band surgery (Adjustable Gastric Band). Osbourne commented that being large was an essential part of her persona when she worked for her father and that being larger made a more dramatic entrance. On 26 October 2006, she went on the Howard Stern Show and revealed that she gained 15 pounds in the last year, and that she will be having her plastic band removed.

In July 2002 Osbourne was diagnosed with colon cancer. Later, she announced her cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and was more serious than originally thought. She survived the disease against a 33% survival prognosis. Despite battling cancer, she insisted that the MTV cameras document her illness during the filming of the second season of The Osbournes. When Osbourne's hair fell out during her subsequent treatment, her wigs were custom made by Cher's wigmaker. Ozzy Osbourne admitted that he "fell apart" during her treatment and recovery, and it was revealed that her son, Jack Osbourne, tried to commit suicide because of his depression stemming from his mother's condition.

In August 2004, she founded the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars Sinai Hospital. In addition, she was the honoured guest at the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation's 2003 Fall Gala, where she spoke of her struggle against cancer. Osbourne has lent her support to design limited edition T-shirts or vests for the 'Little Tee Campaign' for Breast Cancer Care which donates money for breast cancer research. In December 2004, Osbourne made a public announcement, stating that she was still battling bulimia.

She has freely admitted to having extensive cosmetic surgery. As well as documenting this in her autobiography, she appeared on Dr. Phil and commented on everything that had been surgically changed on her body in order to improve her appearance. She stated that she had had a full rhytidectomy, abdominoplasty, mastopexy, as well as many other procedures, but commented that she would not have any surgery performed on her eyes or lips. She has admitted to spending £300,000 on plastic surgery.

Incidents

In 2000, Sharon Osbourne resigned from managing The Smashing Pumpkins by releasing an infamous memo which said, "It was with great pride and enthusiasm that I took on management of the Pumpkins back in October, but unfortunately I must resign today due to medical reasons... Billy Corgan was making me sick!!!" In an October 2008 interview Osbourne revealed that she had recently made up with Pumpkins' frontman Billy Corgan: "I saw him at the Scream Awards. We hadn't seen each other since that whole thing in Germany. The first time we ran into each other and we hugged and kissed and laughed. I was so glad."

In 2004, Sharon Osbourne's home in Jordans, Buckinghamshire was burgled where a man stole gems worth £2 million. He managed to get away with the gems despite being put in a headlock by Ozzy Osbourne. Items taken during the burglary included wedding rings, an engagement ring, pearl and diamond necklaces, a large 52 carat (10 g) sapphire ring and two pairs of diamond earrings. After the incident, Osbourne appeared on Crimewatch and offered a reward of £100,000 for the return of her valuable jewelry.

In March 2005, there was an incident in the Osbourne's mansion in Jordans, Buckinghamshire. Ozzy and Sharon were forced to flee their mansion when a blaze broke out as they slept. They were not injured but had to be treated for smoke inhalation. In 2006 another fire broke out at the Osbourne's mansion; however, none of the family was at home.

Conflict with Iron Maiden at Ozzfest

At Iron Maiden's last Ozzfest performance, on 20 August 2005 at the Hyundai Pavilion at Glen Helen in San Bernardino, California, several negative events took place, allegedly the fault of Sharon Osbourne. Osbourne's actions were reportedly in retaliation to lead singer Bruce Dickinson slating The Osbournes and suggesting that Ozzy had been using an autocue on stage.

During the first Iron Maiden song, several members of the crowd were reported to have bombarded the British metal band with eggs, bottle caps and ice. Some reports also say that Sharon's daughter, Kelly, was throwing objects at the band. During three of Iron Maiden's songs, the P.A. system was switched off, cutting power to Dickinson's microphone and the band's instruments. In audio captured during the concert, it is reported that Dickinson can be heard accusing the festival's organizers of deliberately cutting off the band's power. Also unknown to Iron Maiden, played secretly through the PA at the very beginning and end of their set was a tape with the chant "Ozzy - Ozzy - Ozzy". On Iron Maiden’s departure, Ozzfest founder Sharon Osbourne did make a few statements on stage in front of the 40,000 people in attendance. She told the audience that while she "absolutely loved Iron Maiden", she thought lead singer Bruce Dickinson was a "prick" and had "disrespected Ozzfest since they began their stint with the tour." Her words were met with booing, and soon after she walked off the stage.

Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood issued a statement shortly after the debacle condemning the attack on the band.

Popular culture

Osbourne has been referred to many times in popular culture. The popular British comedy Dead Ringers, features and spoofs Osbourne (played by Jan Ravens) quite prominently alongside her husband (played by Jon Culshaw). She was also spoofed by impressionist Ronni Ancona on Alistair McGowan's Big Impression and was also featured in comedy 2DTV. On Saturday Night Live, Amy Poehler played her in the 14 May 2005 installment of "Celebrity Jeopardy!" Recently she appeared on the Ellen Degeneres Show.

External links

• Sharon Osbourne at itv.com/xfactor
• The Official Sharon Osbourne Website
• Sharon Osbourne biography at mtv.com
• The Osbournes at mtv.com
• Sharon Osbourne at IMDb
• Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars Sinai