Sharon Osbourne Felt Career Was ‘Dead’ After Controversial ‘The Talk’ Exit

Sharon Osbourne is speaking out about her controversial exit from The Talk, saying that she felt her career was “dead” afterward. In 2021, Osborne openly supported Piers Morgan, after the British journalist made some vicious comments about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Then came allegations of racist and bigoted behavior behind-the-scenes of The Talk, which Osbourne has denied.

Sharing a personal perspective on how things went down between her and CBS, Osbourne told The Times, “They said to me, ‘You are on permanent suspension. We don’t think that you’re repentant enough. And we will decide whether you ever come back.’ And I said, ‘Well, who’s going to make that decision?’ And they said, ‘We can’t tell you.’” Osbourne then implied that the situation left her effectively blacklisted in the United States. “My phone as far as my TV career here [was concerned] was non-existent, not one call. Nothing. In England and Australia it never changed. Here it was like I was dead.” She added, “Everybody’s scared of saying something wrong that somebody would take and sell. It’s no way to bloody live. I don’t want it. I don’t need it. It’s just our time to go home.”

The Talk went on a temporary hiatus in April 2021 after a heated exchange between Sheryl Underwood and Osbourne sparked a race-related controversy. The whole thing started, however, with Osbourne showing support for Morgan, who quit his own show, Good Morning Britain, following the comments about Markle. During the show’s break, an internal investigation into Osbourne’s behavior was done and uncovered allegations of past racist comments. In a statement on her exit, CBS explained, “The events of the March 10 broadcast were upsetting to everyone involved, including the audience watching at home. As part of our review, we concluded that Sharon’s behavior toward her co-hosts during the March 10 episode did not align with our values for a respectful workplace.”

In the first episode of The Talk following the hiatus, Underwood spoke about what was going through her mind when she and Osbourne were locked in their fiery argument. “I didn’t want to escalate things with Sharon because I thought I was having a conversation with a friend,” she explained. “But also I knew I had to be an example for others to follow because I didn’t want to be perceived as the angry Black woman. That really scared me; I didn’t want to be that. I wanted to remain calm.” Underwood went on to say that revisiting that day has been “difficult… because I feel the trauma.”