Sharon Osbourne And Simon Cowell Were BFFs, But Why Did They Stop Talking?
Sharon Osbourne and Simon Cowell have been friends for as long as fans can remember, having famously appeared in a number of the latter’s shows, including America’s Got Talent and The X Factor UK, where she shared her talent expertise as a judge, respectively.
And while their friendship has always been up and down over the years, in an episode of The Talk, Osbourne claimed that she didn’t know what to make of Cowell’s decision to fire her from The X Factor UK, claiming that the music mogul felt she was too old, which, of course, left the 68-year-old furious.
It’s been said that Cowell and Osbourne are in a better place today than they were a year ago, but things are nowhere near to how they used to be. So what exactly caused their friendship to fall apart and are the former BFFs back on speaking terms?
Sharon Was Fired For Being 'Too Old'
During an appearance on The Talk in March 2019, Osbourne recalled how she had been approached to be a judge on the FOX game show, The Masked Singer, and while the offer appeared to be lucrative and exciting, she chose to turn it down because of her commitments in the U.K. with The X Factor UK.
At the time, Cowell had already informed the mother of three that she would be returning for another series — of course, that was only if she was interested in coming back, which she was. But at the very last minute, the media entrepreneur was said to have changed his mind and thought that bringing Osbourne back could hurt ratings because of her age.
Instead of bringing her back, Cowell wanted somebody to replace her who was young and current.
Needless to say, Osbourne was furious — not only because she had turned down a deal with FOX out of respect for her friendship with Cowell, but also because her pal felt she was too old to carry on judging contestants on a singing show, which she certainly didn’t agree with.
She told the studio audience: "I turned down [US TV show] Masked Singer last year as I was signed to do another show at the time. They asked if I wanted to be a judge on it, but I said, 'I have to go to England.’
"Then Simon Cowell changed his mind and thought I was too old. Simon Cowell said, 'She is old. We need somebody young'."
After hearing about Cowell’s plans to have Osbourne replaced with a younger female, she recalled sending a text message to her on-off friend, which supposedly said: “If you want young, fire yourself and get rid of those man ****.”
And while Osbourne later claimed that things were better between her and Cowell after having a one-to-one conversation over the phone, in April 2020, it appeared as if she wasn’t done slamming her former boss just yet when she decided to spill the beans on the Honest AF Show podcast.
According to the talk show host, Cowell has never liked overweight people, adding that his views are very “dated” and that he’s somewhat lost touch with reality.
“Simon doesn't have an ability to see individuals. He doesn't like people who are overweight. Seriously,” she said. “That’s why he turned down Jennifer Hudson, that's why he wouldn't champion her on American Idol. But it's the truth. He's very dated (in his views).”
While Cowell could have taken those comments to heart, the 61-year-old has continued to stress that Osbourne remains a close friend of his, making it apparent that he’s not offended by any of the remarks she’s made about him because that’s how Osbourne has always been.
In fact, Cowell says one of the reasons why he hired her, to begin with, was because of her feisty attitude.
“I phoned her up the other day and said "Look, I'll be honest with you. How could I criticize you for being mouthy when it's the reason I hired you in the first place?! Sharon gets a bit carried away but deep down she's got real affection for the shows.
“There's absolutely no bad blood at all and like I said, when people think I'm annoyed with her, I'm not! She's a good friend and always will be.”
While some would wonder how Cowell would be okay with having a friend make such comments about him, he’s deemed the remarks to be nothing more than silly “banter” from Osbourne — and since they both live in LA and talk on a frequent basis, it doesn’t seem as if their friendship is at odds over past issues.
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