Sharon Osbourne Says Dismissal From 'The Talk' Tarnished Her Credibility In America

Reality star Sharon Osbourne is recalling her controversial departure from "The Talk."

The tv personality was one of the longest-serving members of the daytime show appearing in 11 seasons. Osbourne's controversial views while she was a co-host led to a verbal showdown with then-colleague Shery Underwood, which spurred her dismissal from the show.

Osbourne recently opened up about leaving the daytime show and how it damaged her reputation as a veteran tv personality in America. Osbourne also revealed that she left with no payout and canceled any hopes of a reconciliation with former colleague Underwood.

Read below for more details.

Ahead of the debut of her Fox Nation docuseries dubbed "Sharon Osbourne: To Hell & Back," Osbourne recalled her controversial dismissal from the CBS daytime show, which she had co-hosted for 11 seasons. At the time, the tv personality was let go amid a racism controversy, spurred on by an incident between her and co-host Underwood.

"I was thinking to myself: This is gonna be it," she recounted per Yahoo. "Over 50 years working in this industry, and this is going to be it. This is it. I'm gonna go out as a racist? I found it so heartbreaking. And it was like: Why, why did this happen? Why"

Osbourne went on to say that the manner in which she left the show took a major emotional toll on her, claiming it destroyed her credibility as a renowned tv personality. However, she held on to the notion that she had done nothing wrong to spur her dismissal.

"Let's be truthful about this: They destroyed my credibility in America," she says. "Let's be really truthful. It's like: I have nothing to be afraid of. Their allegations were wrong and were twisted and distorted."

Back in March 2021, Osbourne and her fellow co-host Sheryl Underwood got into a heated debate after the latter questioned Osbourne's support of her longtime friend, Piers Morgan. Morgan, at the time, had made the headlines for allegedly using racist terms to address the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.

The incident led the showrunners of "The Talk" to put the show on a short hiatus and open an investigation into Osbourne's actions and allegations that she had made racist and homophobic remarks about her colleagues in the past.

Although Osbourne later tweeted an apology for her part in the heated conversation with her colleague, it did not garner enough goodwill with the showrunners as she was fired weeks after the incident. Her dismissal ended her long-running appearance on the show, which she has been on since its inception.

In the docuseries, Osbourne hinted at why she was not given a second chance. She shared that the network insisted on firing her to prevent any blemish on their name.

The veteran host said (via Yahoo), "We weren't dealing with a company that runs, you know, religious programming. This company is like every other — ruthless — and will do whatever they have to do to not have any stain on their network. They [don't want] anything that's going to rock the boat..."

Regarding if suing the network came across her mind, the former talk show host shared that she preferred to take the high road rather than spend a huge chunk of her next years in court. "Sure I could have [sued]. But do I want to waste two, three years of my life on them? No, I don't want to do that. For what?"

Osbourne also refuted rumors that she got a massive payout after her contract was terminated. To explain her point, she drew parallels with movie scenes "when people get let go [and] you take out your box full of stuff. That was it."

The television personality admitted that there is no chance that she and Underwood will ever be friends again and that she is still very upset by what she perceives to be Underwood's betrayal.

"Never. No. Never ever," she said, referring to the unlikelihood of a makeup. "Why? Why would I? I worked with somebody for all those years, sat beside her, traveled the world with her, laughed, and cried with her. No, because she's not a friend."

Osbourne's new docuseries debuts on Monday. Ahead of its premiere, the veteran host revealed that she and her husband, Ozzy, are returning to their native England.