X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne’s new house is a shrine to wayward rocker Ozzy despite his six-month fling with hairdresser
Star admits her family is now closer together than ever
OZZY is everywhere in Sharon Osbourne’s new Hollywood mansion – even in the toilet.
A famous black and white portrait of her wayward husband sat on the loo overlooks a special urinal Mrs O has had installed in what she calls “Ozzy’s men’s toilet” just off her large kitchen.
“That’s a classic shot that was taken in 71, so I’m like what should go in the toilet other than a picture of Ozzy going to the toilet? It works good, right?”
Sharon, 63, is showing me around the luxury pad she has just moved into – complete with a large hydro pool and an elaborate cat zoo for her favourite felines.
An imposing black re-creation of a London telephone box greets visitors at the driveway, with Osbourne emblazoned along the top.
And in the living room where the X Factor judge spends her down time, the coffee table is littered with Black Sabbath memorabilia.
“I’m doing the Black Sabbath tour at the moment, so it’s always like this,” she explains.
He may not be physically in the house yet – he’s on the road with the band in Ridgefield, Connecticut when we meet – but Ozzy’s presence is undeniable.
Just four months after fuming Sharon – who last year says she suffered a “breakdown” – chucked out Ozzy after discovering he’d had a six-month affair with hairstylist Michelle Pugh, it’s clear the new luxury home represents a chance to start their relationship again.
“I adore Ozzy,” she says simply, admitting that the horror few months has only brought her closer to her family.
related stories
What have been her coping mechanisms over this difficult period?
Surprisingly, Sharon – famed for her famous temper and extreme acts of revenge – has decided to stop getting angry.
She says: “I am trying to learn – I try to not let things faze me. Before I was like [she makes a loud roar], ‘How dare they this and how dare they that.’
“I was riled up at the slightest thing and then you realise as you get older that all these things aren’t really important.”
As Alfred – one of her large collection of small dogs – joins us on the couch, I ask what’s important to her now.
She answers: “My family, my doggy, my grandkids. I love my grandkids, you get a second bite you know with your grandkids, it’s a gift. I love them to death.”
Today Sharon’s house is full up with a different type of family – her X Factor gang.
Newly installed presenter Dermot O’Leary is eating a piece of quiche sitting on her large kitchen bench, while her guest judge Robbie Williams is outside having a smoke.
Her six contestant finalists mill about as well, desperate to be picked as one of her final three taken to the live shows which begin next week.
“This is our moving in party,” Sharon says.
While Sharon has prepared food and served wine for her guests, she’s careful these days and is the smallest I’ve ever seen her after dropping over a stone.
She says: “If I could I would be bloody eating and drinking all day.
“I’d have a breakfast, lunch, dinner meeting that would go on for hours, you know I like that European thing of late, long dinners because I like being social.”
I thought Sharon’s weight loss may have been because of the stress of her marriage troubles, but she says it’s down to no longer being the face of the Atkins diet, which limits carb intake.
She says: “It’s funny because I was the spokesperson for Atkins for 3 years and when I finished my contract I lost 15 pounds like that.
“I know what it was – it was the stress, because you get weighed every month. The deal went and suddenly the weight came off because there was no stress.”
Sharon’s house just happens to be around the corner from her boss Simon Cowell, a long-term former enemy turned friend.
Describing their changed relationship, she says: “We first worked together 13 years ago when I was all prickly and had a big ego – so did Simon.
“You change. No, I say to him, ‘Shut up.’ And he goes to me, ‘Shut up.’ Then you have a laugh about it.
“Back then I was like, ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ It was the same with him. We both had egos but you grow up.”
She adds: “It’s like how people say if you’re the same person you are at 20 when you are at 50 then you’ve wasted your life.
“You change and you grow and the things that rattled your cage 13 years ago don’t rattle your cage anymore.”
The two neighbours even go on dates now, with Sharon getting on well with Simon’s girlfriend Lauren Silverman.
She says: “We were literally two minutes from each other. I like Lauren a lot.
“We were flying on a plane from Dublin and she gets up from her seat and she’s pouring us drinks and asking if we need anything.
“I told her to go and sit down because we’re fine. She doesn’t have to do that but she does because she’s a nice lady.
“You know so that’s the difference, she isn’t a prima donna, she cares about Simon, she loves Simon, and they have a family together.”
Sharon returned to the show so she could be reunited with pals Louis Walsh, 64, and Nicole Scherzinger, 38, on the panel, who replaced last year’s younger judges Nick Grimshaw, 32, and Rita Ora, 25.
She believes the show’s big ratings boost this year is down to the older panel, saying: “It’s great to have young kids on the panel and you get that energy and whatever.
“But nothing counts for experience, nothing compares to the amount of years somebody has been in the business. You know, that’s what it is.”
Original judge Sharon’s last stint on X Factor in 2013 only lasted for one year. She’d like it to be longer this time.
“It’s up to Simon, of course. You’d like to think you’d be there for three years, but it’s not up to me.”
The big talking point at Sharon’s judges’ house this weekend will be the shock return of white rapper Honey G – who she sent home on Sunday night’s Six Chair Challenge.
Justifying the turnaround, she says: “We had another lady from the Philippines who couldn’t get a visa to come here so God sent me Honey G. Thank God he sent me Honey G, and here she is.”
Sharon understands the X Factor live shows will bring inevitable criticism.
But she says: “When you put yourself out there on a show like that you’re going to get as many people that like you who don’t like you.
“You get all the s*** and you get all the good so you’ve got to learn to balance it.”
Sharon admitted needing to take five weeks off last year after collapsing from “mental and physical fatigue” .
But now she believes she can cope with whatever is thrown at her, saying: “I’m in a really good place because I’m in control of my life.
“Look around – a house full of lovely people, working with lovely people, got a great family. I’m blessed.”
My face is Rebourne
SHARON, Simon and Louis have all had digs at each other about the amount of cosmetic surgery they have had since first starting on the show in 2004.
But Mrs O is not ashamed of her regular facial procedures, which have kept her looking incredible.
She says: “I don’t make any secret about it. I’ve had loads of bloody surgery. Little bits. I call it maintaining.”
But she avoids facelifts as “they take bloody months to get over”.
She adds: “I like to think I’m pretty open and if I’m asked something, I don’t say it’s none of your business, I answer.”
Got a story? Email bizarre@the-sun.co.uk or call us direct on 02077824037
