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CNN Larry King Live
Interview With Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne
Aired March 03, 2003 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, it's the Osbournes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OZZY OSBOURNE, MUSICIAN: Sharon!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: A night we waited for for some time, to meet Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary Grammy-winning heavy metal rocker with Black Sabbath, and of course, his wife and business manager. It's their first live prime-time interview, and we're going to talk openly, sharing their most intimate family moments with millions worldwide. Her battle with cancer and how all their successes helped and hurt their family. The Osbournes are with us for the hour. We thank them very much.
Now, Ozzy will be with us in the last two segments of the program. We're going to spend the first four segments with Sharon, and we'll be taking phone calls as well.
First and obvious, how are you doing?
SHARON OSBOURNE, OZZY'S WIFE/MANAGER: I'm doing great, I'm really, really good.
KING: You have cancer of what?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, I had cancer of the colon. And I'm now two weeks since I've had a session of chemo, and I'm doing just great.
KING: How was it picked up? Colonoscopy?
S. OSBOURNE: A colonoscopy that Ozzy made me go to, because he had one, and he was insisting that I went, because I never go to the doctor, ever.
KING: You're supposed to go every five years after you're 40, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: You hadn't been?
S. OSBOURNE: No, nothing. I think the last time I went to the doctor, it was 17 years ago when I had my son. So I never go. And he made me go.
KING: You went to give birth, or you wouldn't have gone in then either, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Never.
KING: And what happened?
S. OSBOURNE: I had the test done and they found that I had two tumors, and that was it.
KING: That was how long ago?
S. OSBOURNE: That was June the 3rd. And I had the operation two days later. And then they found it had gone into my lymph nodes and...
KING: Isn't that a death notice?
S. OSBOURNE: No. Look at me.
KING: No, I mean, when they talk -- I know you look phenomenal, but normally when you hear lymph nodes, you think it's spreading.
S. OSBOURNE: You do, but I had really great doctors, who, you know, they were telling me that, you know, it is not necessarily so, and it was only in two lymph nodes, and, you know, the chemo would zap it out, and that was it.
KING: How did you handle the chemo?
S. OSBOURNE: The first two or three months was really tough, Larry, because I had to have it every week for four weeks, and then they'd give me one week off. And after the first four weeks, I was taken back into the hospital and I had to have blood transfusions, and it was really bad. I was in longer after the chemo than I was for the actual operation.
So I was in maybe two weeks then. So I came back out, they then said they'll cut the chemo to three weeks and one week off. After the three weeks, I was back in the hospital again.
KING: And you had chemo recently?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, two weeks ago was my last one.
KING: Now, is that it?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: Now, what do they look for? Is it every few years or so they look back?
S. OSBOURNE: Actually, tomorrow I'm going for my last test, I'm going for my PET scans, and all of that stuff.
KING: To see that it hasn't spread anywhere.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: Do you feel OK? You look great.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you. I feel really good. I feel really positive. And that's it. I just look forward to the future.
KING: Was it weird to have an illness public?
S. OSBOURNE: Well...
KING: You walk down the street, people know, hey, that's the lady with colon cancer.
S. OSBOURNE: I think it was and it was -- because I've never been ill before. So it was kind of -- I felt helpless, because I'd never not been well. So that was the worst of it for me, not being able to do what I usually did. With people knowing, it didn't worry me because -- in fact, it encouraged me, because so many people gave me so much encouragement that I was, like, yes, you know, this is amazing.
KING: How about the family?
S. OSBOURNE: They were just unbelievable. I mean, they were all unbelievable.
KING: You owe your life to your husband?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: How did you meet him?
S. OSBOURNE: I met my husband 33 years ago. He walked into my father's office when I was a receptionist.
KING: In London or here?
S. OSBOURNE: In London, yes. In Berkeley Square.
KING: And what was he doing there?
S. OSBOURNE: He was in Black Sabbath and they were looking for management, and they came to see my father. But they decided not to go with him because they were scared of him.
KING: Your father was a talent manager?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, he was, at the time.
KING: Did Ozzy ask you out right away?
S. OSBOURNE: No. He was married. So he didn't. And then our paths kept crossing. I would be over here on tour and he would be over here, and so for the next nine years, our lives would -- we'd cross each other every couple of years.
KING: Did you have feelings for him, an attraction to him?
S. OSBOURNE: I thought that he was really cute and funny, and I loved his company because he would make me laugh.
KING: Were you a Black Sabbath fan?
S. OSBOURNE: I was, because I was raised on American rock 'n' roll. So when I first saw Black Sabbath, I was like, oh, my goodness, what is this? Like, I got goosebumps, and I was like, I was used to Sam Cook and the Everly Brothers. And you know...
KING: But they were far way out from them.
S. OSBOURNE: Way removed. And so when I saw them, I had never seen anything like it.
KING: How did the romance begin?
S. OSBOURNE: In '79, we started to work together. Ozzy actually came back to my father for management, Black Sabbath did in '79. So it took them nine years.
KING: And you were what?
S. OSBOURNE: By then, I'd worked my way up in my father's company, and I was, you know, a day to day manager in his office.
KING: And you managed Ozzy?
S. OSBOURNE: From '79, yes. And then Black Sabbath fired him. And Ozzy was out on his own. And I said, come on, we'll get it together, we'll put a group together around you. And we did. And we worked together literally 24 hours a day for, you know, 18 months, and so we were never away from each other. So our relationship developed over the time, and it became intimate.
KING: So you're married how long now?
S. OSBOURNE: Actually, married 20 years.
KING: You redid the vows.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, we did.
KING: Why?
S. OSBOURNE: Because when we first got married, we had the band there. My mom and dad was there, but we were having really bad time with my -- with my side of the family.
KING: They were against it?
S. OSBOURNE: They were against me; it wasn't against the marriage, but my father had fallen out with me and I had fallen out with him over business. And it wasn't a good vibe at the wedding at all.
KING: Did you ever put it back together with your father?
S. OSBOURNE: I did. I did. It's now 18 months ago.
KING: What was it like to go through the marriage ceremony again with 80,000 of your closest friends?
S. OSBOURNE: It was the best thing for me, because my dad was there and this time it was in a loving way, not because he had to be. And my -- Ozzy's whole family was there.
KING: So there was a method to this. It wasn't just some sort of show for New Year's Eve?
S. OSBOURNE: Oh, no, no. No. It was for me.
KING: When did the Osbourne -- the family is unusual, will you admit that, Sharon? It's different.
S. OSBOURNE: We're very different because we're very open. Everything is right out on the table.
KING: You think there are more families like you but they are not open?
S. OSBOURNE: I think that there are more open families than we actually know. They're just not on TV.
KING: And how did you make that decision, to go on? Why did you agree to that MTV? Whose idea was it?
S. OSBOURNE: It was mine, and I wanted to show that celebrities live just the same as people who aren't celebrities, that aren't in the public eye. We're all the same. And I thought it was a good idea, because Ozzy is really funny, and I thought it would be a good idea.
KING: Still think so?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes. I've had my, you know, ups and downs of it. It's been a roller coaster ride.
KING: So how does it work? They come to your house, when and what do they do? Give me the modus operandi.
S. OSBOURNE: OK. They set up at my -- in the house. They literally set up -- it looks like a studio, it looks like this at my house.
KING: What day, Monday, Tuesday, they...
S. OSBOURNE: Seven days a week, and it's three film crews that rotate. And so they're there all the time.
KING: And how much is your family living? S. OSBOURNE: All of it. All of it.
KING: Except the bedroom?
S. OSBOURNE: We let them in the bedroom sometimes now. The first season we didn't, but now we do. But since I've been sick, it's been kind of like -- they've been very much restricted because of my sickness, which has been really hard for them to put a show together around that.
KING: Do you control the editing?
S. OSBOURNE: I get clearance, but I've honestly, honestly, you know, not taken any...
KING: Let it go?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: We'll be right back with Sharon Osbourne. We'll be taking calls for Sharon. Ozzy will be joining us later. You're watching LARRY KING LIVE. LaToya Jackson tomorrow night. And on Thursday night, kind of an exclusive, Senator Robert Byrd, who rarely sits down, will sit down with us. The dean of the Senate. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
S. OSBOURNE: Ozzy, there you go. Look.
O. OSBOURNE: Bubbles! Oh, come on, Sharon. I'm (expletive deleted) Ozzy Osbourne, the prince of (expletive deleted) darkness, evil, evil, (expletive deleated) evil, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) (expletive deleated) bubbles. When do the male models go on and start stroking?
I'm not going to do it, Sharon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O. OSBOURNE: What really first attracted me to my wife was her laugh. She's got such a great laugh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We'll take calls in a little while for Sharon Osbourne and Ozzy will be joining us later. And we'll take some calls for him, too.
Are you at all bothered by Ozzy's frequent use of the f word?
S. OSBOURNE: No, because in the world that I work in and I was brought up in, it's used every day. Every day.
KING: Was there any problem with using it on your TV show? Because you know, they bleep and they go crazy with you people.
S. OSBOURNE: Well, in the rest of the world they leave it as it is. It's just in America that -- and Canada that they have to bleep it.
KING: So when you -- if it's in London, they don't bleep it.
S. OSBOURNE: They don't bleep it. Anywhere in the rest of the world -- Japan, they don't bleep it.
KING: Do you think America should not bleep it?
S. OSBOURNE: No, I think she should because Ozzy and I prefer the bleeps.
KING: Oh, the bleeps work.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, we think it's funnier with the bleeps.
KING: Is it a word you've just gotten used to? It's part of the nomenclature?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: All right. How about overexposure of the family?
S. OSBOURNE: I have tried my hardest, Larry. I mean, I can't stop magazines putting us on the cover. I can't stop people-- like our marriage, OK, it was exclusive, obviously for MTV. But other networks filmed it off the TV and showed it. I can't stop them from doing it. And everybody says, you know, Pull back. But I can't pull back.
KING: So all you do is the MTV show. Every thing else is a product of that, that other people do?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes. I mean, not everything. But, say, half of it.
And the thing is, it's like -- I don't know it is like a wheel that you can't stop. And...
KING: Weren't you guys -- it's a snowball, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, that got started.
KING: But you've become part of the culture. President Bush acknowledged Ozzy from the Dais at a Washington correspondents dinner. Barbara Bush said she loved the stuff. Dan Quayle said he thought your show transmitted some good lessons about not doing drugs and alcohol.
Do you agree with that?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, I do.
KING: We have a clip of President Bush. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hollywood stars, Ozzy Osbourne. OK, Ozzy. Ozzy, mom loves your stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That was something, huh?
S. OSBOURNE: It was just a magical night. It was incredible.
KING: But Bill Cosby says you're a sad, sad family. That's a quote of Bill's. How do you react to that?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, I call him a hypocrite.
KING: Because?
S. OSBOURNE: Because he pretends to be something that he's not.
KING: Meaning?
S. OSBOURNE: Meaning that he pretends to be squeaky clean and he's not.
KING: You mean because of that thing with the child and...
S. OSBOURNE: And his reputation precedes him.
I mean, I don't know, but people in the -- in TV and film have told me otherwise. I don't know. I mean, I've never met him. I must say, however, that when I got ill, so, you know, he sent me a very nice letter so, you know, that, you know, I don't want to knock him too much, but...
KING: You were hurt by what he said?
S. OSBOURNE: No, not at all. He's entitled to his opinion and I'm entitled to mine. I think he's a hypocrite and he thinks I'm sad.
KING: Is your home a tourist attraction? Is that true?
S. OSBOURNE: It has become nowadays.
KING: Do you live near Pat Boone?
S. OSBOURNE: We used to live next door to Pat, but we moved.
KING: Now there's -- that's an incongruous neighborhood, Pat Boone and the Osbournes. You got to admit.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes
KING: How did you like -- the approach, they voted it today, the best commercial of the year, the Diet Pepsi commercial -- not the Diet Pepsi, the new Pepsi product you did with the Osmonds.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes. It was -- I didn't actually appear in it because I was ill. But the kids and Ozzy did it and it was really funny, you know? That's what it was meant to be. Just funny.
KING: It worked and it showed that you people can laugh at yourselves.
S. OSBOURNE: Of course.
I mean, we don't take ourselves seriously, you know?
KING: That's the best part of you, right? You don't take it that seriously.
S. OSBOURNE: No.
KING: Here's that Pepsi commercial we talked about. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
O. OSBOURNE: Bloody bag, now I got to....
KELLY OSBOURNE, DAUGHTER: Hey, dad.
O. OSBOURNE: Not now.
K. OSBOURNE: but we really want to show you something.
O. OSBOURNE: I got something to do. I'm trying to get this...
JACK OSBOURNE, SON: You really should see this.
O. OSBOURNE: What is it then? What is it?
J. OSBOURNE: These aren't Pepsis. They're Pepsi Twists.
O. OSBOURNE: You're a bunch of bloody magicians.
K. OSBOURNE: And we're not the Osbournes.
O. OSBOURNE: You're not?
DONNY AND MARIE OSMOND, SINGERS: We're the Osmonds!
(SINGING)
O. OSBOURNE: Sharon! Sharon, the kids have turned into the Osmonds.
FLORENCE HENDERSON, ACTRESS: Oh, there, there, dear. Go back to sleep.
ANNOUNCER: Like twists? Pepsi Twist and Diet Pepsi Twists. It's a twist on a great thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, that was funny.
S. OSBOURNE: It is funny.
KING: Funny. It worked.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, it did.
KING: What's been the impact of the TV show on the kids?
S. OSBOURNE: It's been a huge impact on my kids. I mean, you know, they were just -- their life has been turned upside down, but in a good way.
KING: Good or bad?
S. OSBOURNE: It's a good way. Sometimes they get out of hand and I have to get that stick out and put them back in their place.
KING: So you react badly when nasty things are said about them?
S. OSBOURNE: Of course, as any mother would. But I have to realize that, you know, they're in the public eye and you have to take criticism as much as praise because everybody is entitled to their own opinion and hardly any people agree.
KING: Your marriages has had problems, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Sure.
KING: Ozzy tried -- did he try to strangle you? What's the story? I don't know any thing about this, so...
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, he was -- he was going through a really bad stage in his life where he was, you know, drinking and mixing, I would call it his drug cocktails. He would mix all these drugs. And he was out of his mind one night and said that we're going to kill you. And he had all these little voices in his head. And so...
KING: You forgave him, obviously.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: Did you report him?
S. OSBOURNE: Of course. I had him arrested.
KING: Is he free of drugs now?
S. OSBOURNE: Not totally, no.
KING: How do you deal with that?
S. OSBOURNE: I accept Ozzy for what he is. And I love him more than life. And nobody's perfect. My husband has reasons why he does what he does. He has a lot of reasons.
KING: We'll be right back with Sharon Osbourne. We'll be taking your phone calls. Ozzy will join us later. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
S. OSBOURNE: OK.
O. OSBOURNE: It's working. (expletive deleated)
Turn the (expletive deleated) thing off. It's driving me mad!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
K. OSBOURNE: If you get a boob job, I'll never talk to you again.
S. OSBOURNE: I want the things that start up here, there's nothing here.
K. OSBOURNE: Mom, you don't need that. I don't have that.
S. OSBOURNE: Melinda has it.
K. OSBOURNE: Well, because Melinda's got the hugest buggers in the whole entire world.
S. OSBOURNE: Melinda, come here.
K. OSBOURNE: Unzip your shirt.
S. OSBOURNE: Can you unzip your shirt a minute so we can see your t-shirt underneath.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, why? That's not nice to say to your boss. I apologize.
S. OSBOURNE: That's fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Sharon Osbourne.
You were once very overweight, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Very overweight.
KING: Over 200 pounds.
S. OSBOURNE: Over 225 pounds.
KING: How did you do it? How did you lose it?
S. OSBOURNE: I had a band put on my stomach.
KING: A band?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, not the stapling, I had a band put on.
KING: A band, I don't understand. You mean they put something around your stomach so you could -- wasn't liposuction?
S. OSBOURNE: No. No, can you imagine lipo-ing over 100 pounds off. No, a band.
KING: So, you don't get hungry.
S. OSBOURNE: No, and I can only eat little bits at a time.
KING: Let's take some calls for Sharon Osbourne. Ozzy will join us in a little while. He's getting prepped in the green room. A little joke there, folks.
Norwich, England, hello.
CALLER: Hello.
KING: Hi.
CALLER: I was wondering, is Kelly going to be getting married?
And if so, how do you feel about that?
S. OSBOURNE: Hi, she's not going to be getting married in the near future. But if she were to, I would be happy if she was happy.
KING: Is she going with anyone?
S. OSBOURNE: Not now, no.
KING: Westerly, Rhode Island, hello.
CALLER: Yes, first of all, I think, Sharon, you're a great lady. And my question is to you. If and when Ozzy does retire, what will he be doing and what would you be doing?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, good evening. If Ozzy does retire and I retire I hope that we'll be just playing with our grandchildren and our dogs.
KING: If and when.
S. OSBOURNE: If and when.
KING: Rochester, New York, hello.
CALLER: Good evening, Sharon. I admire your grace and courage. My question is what good has come from your experience with cancer?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, thank you very much. I think that I have -- I now know what it is to suffer pain, great pain. And I now know what millions of other people have gone through. And I think it taught me to live now and not in the future.
KING: By the way did you have a drug problem once?
S. OSBOURNE: No, just eating. Chocolate problem.
KING: Chocolate problems.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, I was a chockaholic.
KING: Do you to still want to eat?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, very much so.
KING: You're just full all the time.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: That's a nice way to be, full all the time.
Kate Bretten, Nova Scotia, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Sharon nice to talk to you. Is what we see on "The Osbournes" at all scripted?
S. OSBOURNE: No, it's not. Nothing at all is scripted. I don't think anybody could dream that up that goes on in our house.
KING: So -- but it is true reality television, right?
S. OSBOURNE: It is true reality TV, nothing but nothing is ever scripted.
KING: You are aware there is a camera?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, of course, all the time. But nothing is scripted, Kate.
KING: Atlanta, hello.
CALLER: Hello, Sharon. I have a question for you.
I would like to know actually if you realize what an icon in my eyes and what an inspiration that you are to women all over the world since your show is being aired?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, thank you very much. It means a lot to me. Thank you very much.
KING: Thanks for saying that. Parker, Colorado, hello.
CALLER: Hi. Sharon, I have a question for you.
S. OSBOURNE: Go on.
CALLER: I just wanted to let you know, first of all, I think that I would fit in your family perfectly.
S. OSBOURNE: Well, come on over.
CALLER: I would definitely love to. My question to you is what is the future of "The Osbournes" in the program and for everything in the future?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, we have another season in the can, as they say, that's my TV talk. We have another 10 episodes in the can, which I think airs in June.
KING: Cameras are out of the house now?
S. OSBOURNE: Actually, tomorrow is our last day of filming, our last day. And I honestly don't know. Let's say in the next year I can't foresee it, but maybe after that. Because you never say never. So but right now I don't know.
KING: Next year you can foresee doing the show again?
S. OSBOURNE: No.
KING: Ozzy continues with the Ozzfest in the summer.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, Ozzy will always tour because he's like a touraholic. He has to keep going out and performing.
KING: He has to sing.
S. OSBOURNE: Has to. That is his shtick. When he doesn't, he drives me mad.
KING: We'll take a break, come back and more calls for Sharon, and then the man will join us. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop it.
O. OSBOURNE: Don't scream. Please, don't scream. Is he behind the mirror?
(CROSSTALK)
O. OSBOURNE: I'm not -- just calm down, man.
S. OSBOURNE: Be careful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step on here.
S. OSBOURNE: No, no, no. It is a horrible idea.
J. OSBOURNE: Dad, I don't like this at all.
K. OSBOURNE: Dad, stop!
K. OSBOURNE: I beg you.
J. OSBOURNE: Squeeze that at it. It will scare him.
O. OSBOURNE: What am I squeezing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back the wife and business manager of legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne. And she will have her own syndicated TV talk show this fall. We'll ask her about that. Ozzy will be joining us in a couple of minutes. LaToya Jackson is the guest tomorrow night. Thursday night, we are in Washington with Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, the oldest ranking member of the -- the dean of the Senate, 50 years in the U.S. Senate. Doesn't make many television appearances. He'll be with us on Thursday.
Back to the phone calls for Sharon. London, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Larry.
KING: Hi.
CALLER: Good evening, Sharon. I was just wondering, first of all, I'd like to say that I think you're a loving mother, caring wife and just a shrewd businesswoman.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you.
CALLER: And I was wondering if I'm looking into getting into the business, I'm only 20 years old and I'm looking into the management side of things, do you have any advice?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, you never give up. You keep going and you don't take no for an answer.
KING: And take any job you can to get in.
S. OSBOURNE: Anything to get in and learn your craft. You have to start at the bottom and work your way up.
KING: When does your show start?
S. OSBOURNE: September 15.
KING: Who is syndicating it?
S. OSBOURNE: I can't remember, Larry.
KING: You don't the company that is syndicating it?
S. OSBOURNE: Oh, no, it's Time Warner that's doing it, yes.
KING: Telepictures.
S. OSBOURNE: Telepictures, yes.
KING: You're replacing Rosie O'Donnell, in a sense. Is it a daytime show?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, but nobody could replace Rosie.
KING: Iowa City, Iowa, hello.
CALLER: Hello, Sharon.
S. OSBOURNE: Hi.
CALLER: Hi. My question for you is you really just -- I really enjoy your show. It's wonderful.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you.
CALLER: And I was just wondering, could you tell me what your secret is to raising such a healthy family?
S. OSBOURNE: I tell you, there is no secret, there is no -- there were no books on it. I mean, everybody has a different philosophy. Ozzy...
KING: What is yours?
S. OSBOURNE: Ozzy's and my philosophy has always been just to be honest and truthful and teach our kids good morals. I know that we swear a lot, but, you know, they have good moral standings and they don't swear when they're out.
KING: Palm Coast, Florida, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Sharon. I want to say you and Ozzy had three children together?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
CALLER: How come the oldest daughter doesn't appear on the show?
S. OSBOURNE: Because everybody, you know, had a decision to make. And her decision was that she wanted to keep her life private and she didn't want to be in the spotlight at this time. She is -- she is pursuing a singing career, but at this time, you know, she didn't want to be part of our show. So I can only respect her for that.
KING: So what happens when she comes in the house? S. OSBOURNE: The cameras don't shoot.
KING: Is that kind of awkward?
S. OSBOURNE: It is. It is awkward, but, you know, it's our daughter so that's it.
KING: Being that kind of family, you respect her opinion, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Absolutely.
KING: She's the oldest?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, yes.
KING: We're going to take a break. When we come back, Ozzy Osbourne, the legend himself, will join us. We will be taking calls for Ozzy as well. So you can get in on -- for either Sharon or Ozzy, as our saga with the Osbournes continues. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O. OSBOURNE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
S. OSBOURNE: Shut up.
O. OSBOURNE: I don't like it, OK?
K. OSBOURNE: Mom, that's a very Ricky Martin coat. I can't give him that.
(CROSSTALK)
O. OSBOURNE: Sharon, this is (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It is not feminine looking, is it?
S. OSBOURNE: No, rock star.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE. He's joined us. We have been -- we have been speaking with Sharon Osbourne for the first four segments of the show. And in the last two segments, Ozzy Osbourne joins us, the legendary Grammy-winning heavy metal rocker whose DVD of the Emmy-winning first season of "The Osbournes" will be released tomorrow. The DVD of the Emmy-winning first season of "The Osbournes" will be released tomorrow.
Ozzy, how has your wife done so far?
O. OSBOURNE: She's my hero. I mean, the pain, the suffering, the fight that she's had over the last nine months has been -- I mean, they say women are the weakest sex, I don't believe that, because I couldn't have gone through what she's gone through. KING: Is it true that you're a hypochondriac?
O. OSBOURNE: Big time.
KING: Big time. So you hate -- a needle drives you nuts, right?
O. OSBOURNE: I would rather take a needle to save my life. If I go to the doctor regularly for checkups, every year for a checkup, you know.
S. OSBOURNE: Twice a year.
KING: But you would go for anything. Right? You get a pimple, you panic.
O. OSBOURNE: No, I believe if you catch things early enough and you...
KING: You made her go early?
O. OSBOURNE: I went first. And I had a colonoscopy, and they found a polyp inside of me. And I persuaded Sharon to go, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) which was a miracle, you know.
KING: What has been the secret of your marriage, Ozzy?
O. OSBOURNE: I think we -- it's that rock 'n' roll and you're rocking and rolling, you don't give up at the first bend. You know, marriage, especially in Los Angeles here, is -- it's -- you get married one week and divorce the next. I mean, I couldn't imagine myself being with any other woman, other than my wife Sharon.
KING: Even though you have had tough times at times?
O. OSBOURNE: Everybody does. I mean, when I hear people say, you know, we've been married for 20 years and we never said a cross word between us, I think they must be living in different houses. Because some days -- we just get off to a bad start, you know.
KING: Are you happy with the television show?
O. OSBOURNE: I don't watch it.
KING: But you know what they're doing.
O. OSBOURNE: I know what they're doing. I know what they're doing. I don't watch it purely because I'm not a television person. And if I see something on the show that I dislike, then the next time I'm aware of that and I'm trying to ...
KING: Change it?
O. OSBOURNE: Change it. So I don't watch it because -- not because I don't like it, it's because I don't -- I don't -- I want to be as real as it can possibly be without -- if I've got a stammer or walk funny or trip (UNINTELLIGIBLE)... KING: Or chasing a cat?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes, or chasing a cat or...
KING: You -- Sharon told us that you still occasionally take drugs.
O. OSBOURNE: Prescribed.
KING: Prescribed drugs?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: Are they -- is he addicted to any prescribed drug?
O. OSBOURNE: I have to take a drug called Klonopin, which is like a Benzedrine. It's purely because when I used to be drinking heavily -- I'm like a binge drinker now. I'll go on and I'll go on, I'll go off. When I...
KING: You still will binge drink?
O. OSBOURNE: Oh, yes. But if I got work to do, it stops.
KING: What happens to you when he goes on the binge? Binge means he can go for three or four days, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Oh, yes.
O. OSBOURNE: Months, weeks.
KING: Months?
S. OSBOURNE: Months.
KING: Months of drinking every day? How you to live with that?
O. OSBOURNE: She don't. She moves out.
S. OSBOURNE: That's not true.
KING: What do you do?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, I mean, after so many years together, I know what to expect and I know what he's capable of and I know that at the -- he's going to -- at some point he's going to have that clarity and he's going to go, it's enough. And so I'm off. So he'll stay straight for the next year and then...
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) kind of an idiot, but why would a hypochondriac...
O. OSBOURNE: Self-medication.
KING: ... binge drink?
O. OSBOURNE: Self-medication.
KING: That's medication to you?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes, I mean, a couple of days -- I feel more comfortable drinking a couple of beers than I am a Valium or...
KING: So liquor is your Prozac?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes, yes, yes. No, not my Prozac, but I've always self-medicated myself.
KING: So when he's on a binge what is happening, like, in your life? Isn't it hard to live with?
S. OSBOURNE: No, not now. It was. It was very hard but I learned to live with it and I know what's going to happen. .
KING: You know when it's coming?
S. OSBOURNE: I know when it's coming, I know when it's going to will end.
O. OSBOURNE: She goes to me, and I go I love you. I've just recently got off a binge and she goes, Ozzy, it's work time. And I go, OK, Mama, because I call her mama.
KING: And you can stop drinking?
O. OSBOURNE: I can't stop on my own. I go my doctor who sedates me for a couple of days so I don't go into a seizure.
KING: What a life, Ozzy.
O. OSBOURNE: Base of rock 'n' roll.
KING: Does it affect your singing?
O. OSBOURNE: If it continues. I've never -- I've been on stage drunk maybe ten times in my whole career. My drinking starts after the shows. But with Sharon, cracks the whip. Sharon goes, Come on, Ozzy, get yourself together, you know.
KING: How do the kids handle it?
O. OSBOURNE: I think that they're -- they're kind of used to it...
KING: How do they handle it in your opinion, Sharon?
S. OSBOURNE: They're used to it, they don't like it. I mean they don't go, Oh, great, Dad's drunk tonight. Let invite a round of few friends, you know and have a party. Oh, sorry. But they're used to it. They don't like it. It affects them.
KING: Do you know when it is starting? Can you say my binge is starting? O. OSBOURNE: Well, I just drink a few beers...
KING: That's it? And that gets you going?
O. OSBOURNE: I have restrictions. I try and stay away from hard liquor. I'll have wine, beer. But, like, for instance, I've got a show coming up in Vegas in a couple of weeks. And so I'm preparing -- one thing I do do every single day, I exercise every day. So I do like two hours...
KING: You're in good shape?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes. The other week I ran around six miles which I've never run six miles in my life.
S. OSBOURNE: But his liver is this big.
KING: How do you...
O. OSBOURNE: No, my...
S. OSBOURNE: I know, I'm teasing, I'm teasing. I swear.
O. OSBOURNE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) doctors today and say my liver's fine.
S. OSBOURNE: I know.
KING: How do you explain the success of "The Osbournes" to yourself?
O. OSBOURNE: I think that the -- the overwhelming thing of all, people -- what I pick up from people that stopped me in the street is the fact that -- it's obvious we all love each other.
I mean, a funny story. On the last Ozzfest I was in Boston. And I never realized the power of TV. I mean, rock 'n' roll's this big. TV's this big.
KING: You didn't get...
O. OSBOURNE: And so I was in Boston and this woman stops me, very conservative woman stops me and she goes, What are you doing in Boston? I'm doing a show. She goes, What kind of a show? And I go, Rock 'n' roll show. And she goes, Oh, you do that as well? I go, Ma'am, I've only been doing it for 36 years. She goes, You have? Because people know me just primarily from the show, you know.
KING: Let's just start -- include some calls for Ozzy as well, Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne. Indianapolis, hello.
CALLER: Hi.
O. OSBOURNE: Hi.
S. OSBOURNE: Hi. CALLER: Hello. Hi, Ozzy. Hi, Sharon.
S. OSBOURNE: Hi.
CALLER: We love you here in the Midwest. I just wanted to say I'm glad Burt is gone. And I wanted to say -- I have a little miniature poodle that's from our local humane society, his name's Elliott. And I wanted to know if your dogs, if any of them are from the humane society or if they are all from breeders.
S. OSBOURNE: They're all from breeders. But, in fact, my daughter Kelly brought home a cat, a very old cat last night, that was from the rescue. Named Mojo.
KING: Redlands, California, hello.
CALLER: Hello.
KING: Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Ozzy, Sharon, how you guys doing?
S. OSBOURNE: Hi.
O. OSBOURNE: Hi.
CALLER: I want to say thank you, Sharon, for all your hard work and years of managing Ozzy. And, Ozzy, thank you for your music, man.
O. OSBOURNE: Thank you.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you.
CALLER: It's a beautiful thing. My question is, the stuff that you do before you go on concert, all that comedy stuff that you put out and stuff like that, are you ever going to put that stuff on DVD?
S. OSBOURNE: We hope to one day, but I must tell you, I mean, we don't have permission to do any of it. We really do steal it and put it up there on the screen. So we'd have to get permission from everybody and I don't think they'd give it to us. But hopefully one day they might.
KING: But the DVD of the Emmy Award winning first season of 'The Osbournes" is out tomorrow.
We'll come back with a lot more moments and more phone calls for the Osbournes on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
K. OSBOURNE: This whole things, freaking me out, man. The word "cancer" and the word "chemo."
O. OSBOURNE: We're a family and we'll stick together and we'll just get through it one way or another. (PHONE RINGING)
K. OSBOURNE: Hello?
O. OSBOURNE: The most obnoxious (expletive deleated) ring.
K. OSBOURNE: I have to go, good-bye.
O. OSBOURNE: Another boyfriend?
K. OSBOURNE: I don't have boyfriends. I don't want a boyfriend.
O. OSBOURNE: I hope you don't want a (expletive deleated) girlfriend. I'm only joking. I hope.
K. OSBOURNE: Dad!
O. OSBOURNE: That was a good shot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O. OSBOURNE: I'm going to write "The Ozzy 10 Commandments." Thout should not get out of bed 'til 12:00. Thou should call your a (expletive deleated) wrinkled-up old (expletive deleated). Thout shall shop (ph) your father for being a junkie. Thout shall not even consider the possibility of work.
I'm going write them and stick them on the (expletive deleated) wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Another Ozzfest coming this summer. Lined up for the year include Marilyn Manson, Korn, Chevelle, Disturbed -- that's the name of the group, Disturbed?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
O. OSBOURNE: Nice band. They look like a folk band.
KING: Wait a minute...
O. OSBOURNE: They end up singing "Kumbayah" at the end of the set.
KING: Cradle of Filth.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
(LAUGHTER) KING: Trust Company and Hot Wire, right? They're all going on tour with you.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: What's it like when you're all together, Oz? Lot of laughs backstage?
O. OSBOURNE: Well, the Ozzfest is like a machine. It starts at 9:00 and ends at about -- what time?
S. OSBOURNE: Eleven.
O. OSBOURNE: Eleven. It's nonstop music.
KING: Two hours concert. You're going open in San Antonio.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes. It's actually 14 hours of music. The whole date is 20, 21, 22 bands all day.
KING: You abandoned San Antonio once
O. OSBOURNE: Yes, for relieving myself at the Alamo.
KING: Were you on a binge then?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: OK. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hello.
CALLER: Hi.
KING: Hi.
CALLER: Ozzy?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes?
CALLER: My girlfriend across the street, she calls my husband and I Ozzy and Sharon of Cedar Rapids.
My husband and I would like to know, Sharon, are you going to be with Ozzy on Ozzfest this year traveling around?
O. OSBOURNE: No.
S. OSBOURNE: I am. I'm going to go back and forth. Ozzy doesn't want me to because he's worried for me, but I am going to be back and forth, I am, definitely.
KING: Now wait a minute. Why he did say no?
O. OSBOURNE: Because if she -- it is my understanding that after you finish chemo, it takes as much time to get over the chemo as you do...
KING: So he's thinking of your health.
S. OSBOURNE: That's what he thinks of, yes.
KING: So maybe you ought to listen to him.
O. OSBOURNE: She's the unstoppable Sharon.
KING: OK. To Ashdod, Israel, hello.
S. OSBOURNE: Ah, Israel.
CALLER: Hi, Ozzy and Sharon, I think you guys are great.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you.
CALLER: I wanted to know, Ozzy, does it at all bother you that you're kind of -- your image from the Prince of Darkness has pretty much been shattered ever since the show started and now you're like Mr. Mom.
O. OSBOURNE: No, not really. It's a side of my life that I choose let the world see, you know?
KING: The Prince of Darkness was an act?
O. OSBOURNE: No. It's what people called me. I didn't call myself the Prince of Darkness.
KING: I see. Caller, are they popular in Israel?
CALLER: You're very popular. And everybody loves you here. It's crazy about you.
S. OSBOURNE: I tell you, I would love, love to come to Israel, but I'm just so scared. But I would love to go.
KING: You've never been there?
S. OSBOURNE: I have never been and I want to go so bad.
KING: Jerusalem is one of the great cities of the world.
S. OSBOURNE: Give them all my love.
KING: They love you in Jerusalem. You could bring world peace, Ozzy. Just go down the street and nobody would bother -- nobody would fight.
S. OSBOURNE: No, they would blow us up.
KING: To Fortville, New York, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Sharon and Ozzy.
O. OSBOURNE: Hi. CALLER: I just want to let you know that you guys are awesome people. My mom is a Mormon and she has her haircut and dyed just like you, Sharon.
S. OSBOURNE: All right.
O. OSBOURNE: All right.
KING: Well, the Mormons appreciate you. You are family. They don't go for cursing, but your family stays together. That's big. Why do you curse?
O. OSBOURNE: Because it -- well, the reason why I curse is a good way of expressing yourself. You don't go -- I mean, the f word has a definite...
KING: Impact.
O. OSBOURNE: Impact, yes.
KING: Do you have a question, caller?
CALLER: I was wondering if you guys prefer living in England or in America?
O. OSBOURNE: Wherever my wife is and my family, that's where I prefer to be.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, we're kind of gypsies, you know? As long as we're together, it's fine.
KING: No preference for either?
S. OSBOURNE: No.
KING: OK. Sayer, Pennsylvania, hello.
CALLER: Yes, hi, Sharon and Ozzy.
My brother and I are real really big fans and we had a question for you. How you to talk to your children about drugs -- not taking drugs?
S. OSBOURNE: Very honestly.
O. OSBOURNE: I don't have to talk to my kids about taking drugs, because they've seen vans, ambulances, police cars -- you name it, and I've been in a whole bunch of rehabs and I think my behavior put them off the idea, you know?
KING: You set of an example that they're afraid of drugs?
O. OSBOURNE: Not that they're afraid. They call it dope. It makes you dopey. My son -- my son, Jack, is really cool, you know? The way I talk to my son, I talk to him like a guy, like two guys talking instead of daddy and son, you know? I say, you know, Jack -- the one thing I'm really up-front about and I don't mix -- make any punches is sex. I say, you know, you have sex, you wear protection. You know, and that's the way I tell them.
S. OSBOURNE: And I think, too, the world that we live in, they've seen so many people who are on drugs and the outcome of what actually happens to you at end of the day. They've seen so many people that have ended up badly.
KING: Yes. Toronto, hello.
CALLER: Hi.
KING: Hi, go ahead.
CALLER: OK. I have a question for Ozzy.
KING: Go ahead.
O. OSBOURNE: Go ahead.
CALLER: OK. I am wondering how he got his name Ozzy.
O. OSBOURNE: Well, really quite easy to work that one out. My real name is John Michael Osbourne and people -- kids at school called me Ozzy.
KING: For Osbourne.
O. OSBOURNE: Ozzy Osbourne. And I don't -- if I was to walk on down the street and someone called me, John, I wouldn't notice. I mean, not that I'm ignorant or being stuck up, but nobody calls me Ozzy -- John now. Everybody calls me Ozzy.
KING: Al right. We only have a minute and a half left. Back to your health. You will have what kind of test tomorrow?
S. OSBOURNE: PET scan and some other scan.
KING: Is this to see that it hasn't spread?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: You feel OK?
S. OSBOURNE: I feel not OK. I feel great.
KING: You don't want her to travel?
O. OSBOURNE: I want her to take care herself, because Sharon is one of these people that she can be on death's door one day and then at the next day she'll be in Bloomingdale's shopping in New York.
S. OSBOURNE: Say Chanel.
O. OSBOURNE: Or Chanel or wherever. I call her the unstoppable Sharon because the last time I took her to Caesar's she went down on me because she did too much.
KING: You owed him.
S. OSBOURNE: Big time.
O. OSBOURNE: All I've done in the last 12 months is tried to save my wife's life, you know?
KING: It's been a delight having you. Who made that watch?
O. OSBOURNE: Actually, I don't think it's a watch. I think it fell off a church steeple.
S. OSBOURNE: It's Jacob the Jeweler from New York.
KING: Let me see this. Jacob the Jeweler.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: This is a watch. This is a watch.
O. OSBOURNE: The only thing is I can't tell the time.
KING: Neither can I. There's too many jewels.
Thank you, Sharon.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you so much. Thank you.
KING: I'll be back in a minute to tell you about tomorrow night. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Tomorrow night, LaToya Jackson joins us. Dr. Andrew Weil on Wednesday, and Senator Robert Byrd Thursday.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 3, 2003 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, it's the Osbournes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OZZY OSBOURNE, MUSICIAN: Sharon!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: A night we waited for for some time, to meet Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary Grammy-winning heavy metal rocker with Black Sabbath, and of course, his wife and business manager. It's their first live prime-time interview, and we're going to talk openly, sharing their most intimate family moments with millions worldwide. Her battle with cancer and how all their successes helped and hurt their family. The Osbournes are with us for the hour. We thank them very much.
Now, Ozzy will be with us in the last two segments of the program. We're going to spend the first four segments with Sharon, and we'll be taking phone calls as well.
First and obvious, how are you doing?
SHARON OSBOURNE, OZZY'S WIFE/MANAGER: I'm doing great, I'm really, really good.
KING: You have cancer of what?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, I had cancer of the colon. And I'm now two weeks since I've had a session of chemo, and I'm doing just great.
KING: How was it picked up? Colonoscopy?
S. OSBOURNE: A colonoscopy that Ozzy made me go to, because he had one, and he was insisting that I went, because I never go to the doctor, ever.
KING: You're supposed to go every five years after you're 40, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: You hadn't been?
S. OSBOURNE: No, nothing. I think the last time I went to the doctor, it was 17 years ago when I had my son. So I never go. And he made me go.
KING: You went to give birth, or you wouldn't have gone in then either, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Never.
KING: And what happened?
S. OSBOURNE: I had the test done and they found that I had two tumors, and that was it.
KING: That was how long ago?
S. OSBOURNE: That was June the 3rd. And I had the operation two days later. And then they found it had gone into my lymph nodes and...
KING: Isn't that a death notice?
S. OSBOURNE: No. Look at me.
KING: No, I mean, when they talk -- I know you look phenomenal, but normally when you hear lymph nodes, you think it's spreading.
S. OSBOURNE: You do, but I had really great doctors, who, you know, they were telling me that, you know, it is not necessarily so, and it was only in two lymph nodes, and, you know, the chemo would zap it out, and that was it.
KING: How did you handle the chemo?
S. OSBOURNE: The first two or three months was really tough, Larry, because I had to have it every week for four weeks, and then they'd give me one week off. And after the first four weeks, I was taken back into the hospital and I had to have blood transfusions, and it was really bad. I was in longer after the chemo than I was for the actual operation.
So I was in maybe two weeks then. So I came back out, they then said they'll cut the chemo to three weeks and one week off. After the three weeks, I was back in the hospital again.
KING: And you had chemo recently?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, two weeks ago was my last one.
KING: Now, is that it?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: Now, what do they look for? Is it every few years or so they look back?
S. OSBOURNE: Actually, tomorrow I'm going for my last test, I'm going for my PET scans, and all of that stuff.
KING: To see that it hasn't spread anywhere.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: Do you feel OK? You look great.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you. I feel really good. I feel really positive. And that's it. I just look forward to the future.
KING: Was it weird to have an illness public?
S. OSBOURNE: Well...
KING: You walk down the street, people know, hey, that's the lady with colon cancer.
S. OSBOURNE: I think it was and it was -- because I've never been ill before. So it was kind of -- I felt helpless, because I'd never not been well. So that was the worst of it for me, not being able to do what I usually did. With people knowing, it didn't worry me because -- in fact, it encouraged me, because so many people gave me so much encouragement that I was, like, yes, you know, this is amazing.
KING: How about the family?
S. OSBOURNE: They were just unbelievable. I mean, they were all unbelievable.
KING: You owe your life to your husband?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: How did you meet him?
S. OSBOURNE: I met my husband 33 years ago. He walked into my father's office when I was a receptionist.
KING: In London or here?
S. OSBOURNE: In London, yes. In Berkeley Square.
KING: And what was he doing there?
S. OSBOURNE: He was in Black Sabbath and they were looking for management, and they came to see my father. But they decided not to go with him because they were scared of him.
KING: Your father was a talent manager?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, he was, at the time.
KING: Did Ozzy ask you out right away?
S. OSBOURNE: No. He was married. So he didn't. And then our paths kept crossing. I would be over here on tour and he would be over here, and so for the next nine years, our lives would -- we'd cross each other every couple of years.
KING: Did you have feelings for him, an attraction to him?
S. OSBOURNE: I thought that he was really cute and funny, and I loved his company because he would make me laugh.
KING: Were you a Black Sabbath fan?
S. OSBOURNE: I was, because I was raised on American rock 'n' roll. So when I first saw Black Sabbath, I was like, oh, my goodness, what is this? Like, I got goosebumps, and I was like, I was used to Sam Cook and the Everly Brothers. And you know...
KING: But they were far way out from them.
S. OSBOURNE: Way removed. And so when I saw them, I had never seen anything like it.
KING: How did the romance begin?
S. OSBOURNE: In '79, we started to work together. Ozzy actually came back to my father for management, Black Sabbath did in '79. So it took them nine years.
KING: And you were what?
S. OSBOURNE: By then, I'd worked my way up in my father's company, and I was, you know, a day to day manager in his office.
KING: And you managed Ozzy?
S. OSBOURNE: From '79, yes. And then Black Sabbath fired him. And Ozzy was out on his own. And I said, come on, we'll get it together, we'll put a group together around you. And we did. And we worked together literally 24 hours a day for, you know, 18 months, and so we were never away from each other. So our relationship developed over the time, and it became intimate.
KING: So you're married how long now?
S. OSBOURNE: Actually, married 20 years.
KING: You redid the vows.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, we did.
KING: Why?
S. OSBOURNE: Because when we first got married, we had the band there. My mom and dad was there, but we were having really bad time with my -- with my side of the family.
KING: They were against it?
S. OSBOURNE: They were against me; it wasn't against the marriage, but my father had fallen out with me and I had fallen out with him over business. And it wasn't a good vibe at the wedding at all.
KING: Did you ever put it back together with your father?
S. OSBOURNE: I did. I did. It's now 18 months ago.
KING: What was it like to go through the marriage ceremony again with 80,000 of your closest friends?
S. OSBOURNE: It was the best thing for me, because my dad was there and this time it was in a loving way, not because he had to be. And my -- Ozzy's whole family was there.
KING: So there was a method to this. It wasn't just some sort of show for New Year's Eve?
S. OSBOURNE: Oh, no, no. No. It was for me.
KING: When did the Osbourne -- the family is unusual, will you admit that, Sharon? It's different.
S. OSBOURNE: We're very different because we're very open. Everything is right out on the table.
KING: You think there are more families like you but they are not open?
S. OSBOURNE: I think that there are more open families than we actually know. They're just not on TV.
KING: And how did you make that decision, to go on? Why did you agree to that MTV? Whose idea was it?
S. OSBOURNE: It was mine, and I wanted to show that celebrities live just the same as people who aren't celebrities, that aren't in the public eye. We're all the same. And I thought it was a good idea, because Ozzy is really funny, and I thought it would be a good idea.
KING: Still think so?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes. I've had my, you know, ups and downs of it. It's been a roller coaster ride.
KING: So how does it work? They come to your house, when and what do they do? Give me the modus operandi.
S. OSBOURNE: OK. They set up at my -- in the house. They literally set up -- it looks like a studio, it looks like this at my house.
KING: What day, Monday, Tuesday, they...
S. OSBOURNE: Seven days a week, and it's three film crews that rotate. And so they're there all the time.
KING: And how much is your family living? S. OSBOURNE: All of it. All of it.
KING: Except the bedroom?
S. OSBOURNE: We let them in the bedroom sometimes now. The first season we didn't, but now we do. But since I've been sick, it's been kind of like -- they've been very much restricted because of my sickness, which has been really hard for them to put a show together around that.
KING: Do you control the editing?
S. OSBOURNE: I get clearance, but I've honestly, honestly, you know, not taken any...
KING: Let it go?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: We'll be right back with Sharon Osbourne. We'll be taking calls for Sharon. Ozzy will be joining us later. You're watching LARRY KING LIVE. LaToya Jackson tomorrow night. And on Thursday night, kind of an exclusive, Senator Robert Byrd, who rarely sits down, will sit down with us. The dean of the Senate. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
S. OSBOURNE: Ozzy, there you go. Look.
O. OSBOURNE: Bubbles! Oh, come on, Sharon. I'm (expletive deleted) Ozzy Osbourne, the prince of (expletive deleted) darkness, evil, evil, (expletive deleated) evil, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) (expletive deleated) bubbles. When do the male models go on and start stroking?
I'm not going to do it, Sharon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O. OSBOURNE: What really first attracted me to my wife was her laugh. She's got such a great laugh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We'll take calls in a little while for Sharon Osbourne and Ozzy will be joining us later. And we'll take some calls for him, too.
Are you at all bothered by Ozzy's frequent use of the f word?
S. OSBOURNE: No, because in the world that I work in and I was brought up in, it's used every day. Every day.
KING: Was there any problem with using it on your TV show? Because you know, they bleep and they go crazy with you people.
S. OSBOURNE: Well, in the rest of the world they leave it as it is. It's just in America that -- and Canada that they have to bleep it.
KING: So when you -- if it's in London, they don't bleep it.
S. OSBOURNE: They don't bleep it. Anywhere in the rest of the world -- Japan, they don't bleep it.
KING: Do you think America should not bleep it?
S. OSBOURNE: No, I think she should because Ozzy and I prefer the bleeps.
KING: Oh, the bleeps work.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, we think it's funnier with the bleeps.
KING: Is it a word you've just gotten used to? It's part of the nomenclature?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: All right. How about overexposure of the family?
S. OSBOURNE: I have tried my hardest, Larry. I mean, I can't stop magazines putting us on the cover. I can't stop people-- like our marriage, OK, it was exclusive, obviously for MTV. But other networks filmed it off the TV and showed it. I can't stop them from doing it. And everybody says, you know, Pull back. But I can't pull back.
KING: So all you do is the MTV show. Every thing else is a product of that, that other people do?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes. I mean, not everything. But, say, half of it.
And the thing is, it's like -- I don't know it is like a wheel that you can't stop. And...
KING: Weren't you guys -- it's a snowball, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, that got started.
KING: But you've become part of the culture. President Bush acknowledged Ozzy from the Dais at a Washington correspondents dinner. Barbara Bush said she loved the stuff. Dan Quayle said he thought your show transmitted some good lessons about not doing drugs and alcohol.
Do you agree with that?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, I do.
KING: We have a clip of President Bush. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hollywood stars, Ozzy Osbourne. OK, Ozzy. Ozzy, mom loves your stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That was something, huh?
S. OSBOURNE: It was just a magical night. It was incredible.
KING: But Bill Cosby says you're a sad, sad family. That's a quote of Bill's. How do you react to that?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, I call him a hypocrite.
KING: Because?
S. OSBOURNE: Because he pretends to be something that he's not.
KING: Meaning?
S. OSBOURNE: Meaning that he pretends to be squeaky clean and he's not.
KING: You mean because of that thing with the child and...
S. OSBOURNE: And his reputation precedes him.
I mean, I don't know, but people in the -- in TV and film have told me otherwise. I don't know. I mean, I've never met him. I must say, however, that when I got ill, so, you know, he sent me a very nice letter so, you know, that, you know, I don't want to knock him too much, but...
KING: You were hurt by what he said?
S. OSBOURNE: No, not at all. He's entitled to his opinion and I'm entitled to mine. I think he's a hypocrite and he thinks I'm sad.
KING: Is your home a tourist attraction? Is that true?
S. OSBOURNE: It has become nowadays.
KING: Do you live near Pat Boone?
S. OSBOURNE: We used to live next door to Pat, but we moved.
KING: Now there's -- that's an incongruous neighborhood, Pat Boone and the Osbournes. You got to admit.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes
KING: How did you like -- the approach, they voted it today, the best commercial of the year, the Diet Pepsi commercial -- not the Diet Pepsi, the new Pepsi product you did with the Osmonds.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes. It was -- I didn't actually appear in it because I was ill. But the kids and Ozzy did it and it was really funny, you know? That's what it was meant to be. Just funny.
KING: It worked and it showed that you people can laugh at yourselves.
S. OSBOURNE: Of course.
I mean, we don't take ourselves seriously, you know?
KING: That's the best part of you, right? You don't take it that seriously.
S. OSBOURNE: No.
KING: Here's that Pepsi commercial we talked about. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
O. OSBOURNE: Bloody bag, now I got to....
KELLY OSBOURNE, DAUGHTER: Hey, dad.
O. OSBOURNE: Not now.
K. OSBOURNE: but we really want to show you something.
O. OSBOURNE: I got something to do. I'm trying to get this...
JACK OSBOURNE, SON: You really should see this.
O. OSBOURNE: What is it then? What is it?
J. OSBOURNE: These aren't Pepsis. They're Pepsi Twists.
O. OSBOURNE: You're a bunch of bloody magicians.
K. OSBOURNE: And we're not the Osbournes.
O. OSBOURNE: You're not?
DONNY AND MARIE OSMOND, SINGERS: We're the Osmonds!
(SINGING)
O. OSBOURNE: Sharon! Sharon, the kids have turned into the Osmonds.
FLORENCE HENDERSON, ACTRESS: Oh, there, there, dear. Go back to sleep.
ANNOUNCER: Like twists? Pepsi Twist and Diet Pepsi Twists. It's a twist on a great thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, that was funny.
S. OSBOURNE: It is funny.
KING: Funny. It worked.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, it did.
KING: What's been the impact of the TV show on the kids?
S. OSBOURNE: It's been a huge impact on my kids. I mean, you know, they were just -- their life has been turned upside down, but in a good way.
KING: Good or bad?
S. OSBOURNE: It's a good way. Sometimes they get out of hand and I have to get that stick out and put them back in their place.
KING: So you react badly when nasty things are said about them?
S. OSBOURNE: Of course, as any mother would. But I have to realize that, you know, they're in the public eye and you have to take criticism as much as praise because everybody is entitled to their own opinion and hardly any people agree.
KING: Your marriages has had problems, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Sure.
KING: Ozzy tried -- did he try to strangle you? What's the story? I don't know any thing about this, so...
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, he was -- he was going through a really bad stage in his life where he was, you know, drinking and mixing, I would call it his drug cocktails. He would mix all these drugs. And he was out of his mind one night and said that we're going to kill you. And he had all these little voices in his head. And so...
KING: You forgave him, obviously.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: Did you report him?
S. OSBOURNE: Of course. I had him arrested.
KING: Is he free of drugs now?
S. OSBOURNE: Not totally, no.
KING: How do you deal with that?
S. OSBOURNE: I accept Ozzy for what he is. And I love him more than life. And nobody's perfect. My husband has reasons why he does what he does. He has a lot of reasons.
KING: We'll be right back with Sharon Osbourne. We'll be taking your phone calls. Ozzy will join us later. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
S. OSBOURNE: OK.
O. OSBOURNE: It's working. (expletive deleated)
Turn the (expletive deleated) thing off. It's driving me mad!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
K. OSBOURNE: If you get a boob job, I'll never talk to you again.
S. OSBOURNE: I want the things that start up here, there's nothing here.
K. OSBOURNE: Mom, you don't need that. I don't have that.
S. OSBOURNE: Melinda has it.
K. OSBOURNE: Well, because Melinda's got the hugest buggers in the whole entire world.
S. OSBOURNE: Melinda, come here.
K. OSBOURNE: Unzip your shirt.
S. OSBOURNE: Can you unzip your shirt a minute so we can see your t-shirt underneath.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, why? That's not nice to say to your boss. I apologize.
S. OSBOURNE: That's fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Sharon Osbourne.
You were once very overweight, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Very overweight.
KING: Over 200 pounds.
S. OSBOURNE: Over 225 pounds.
KING: How did you do it? How did you lose it?
S. OSBOURNE: I had a band put on my stomach.
KING: A band?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, not the stapling, I had a band put on.
KING: A band, I don't understand. You mean they put something around your stomach so you could -- wasn't liposuction?
S. OSBOURNE: No. No, can you imagine lipo-ing over 100 pounds off. No, a band.
KING: So, you don't get hungry.
S. OSBOURNE: No, and I can only eat little bits at a time.
KING: Let's take some calls for Sharon Osbourne. Ozzy will join us in a little while. He's getting prepped in the green room. A little joke there, folks.
Norwich, England, hello.
CALLER: Hello.
KING: Hi.
CALLER: I was wondering, is Kelly going to be getting married?
And if so, how do you feel about that?
S. OSBOURNE: Hi, she's not going to be getting married in the near future. But if she were to, I would be happy if she was happy.
KING: Is she going with anyone?
S. OSBOURNE: Not now, no.
KING: Westerly, Rhode Island, hello.
CALLER: Yes, first of all, I think, Sharon, you're a great lady. And my question is to you. If and when Ozzy does retire, what will he be doing and what would you be doing?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, good evening. If Ozzy does retire and I retire I hope that we'll be just playing with our grandchildren and our dogs.
KING: If and when.
S. OSBOURNE: If and when.
KING: Rochester, New York, hello.
CALLER: Good evening, Sharon. I admire your grace and courage. My question is what good has come from your experience with cancer?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, thank you very much. I think that I have -- I now know what it is to suffer pain, great pain. And I now know what millions of other people have gone through. And I think it taught me to live now and not in the future.
KING: By the way did you have a drug problem once?
S. OSBOURNE: No, just eating. Chocolate problem.
KING: Chocolate problems.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, I was a chockaholic.
KING: Do you to still want to eat?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, very much so.
KING: You're just full all the time.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: That's a nice way to be, full all the time.
Kate Bretten, Nova Scotia, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Sharon nice to talk to you. Is what we see on "The Osbournes" at all scripted?
S. OSBOURNE: No, it's not. Nothing at all is scripted. I don't think anybody could dream that up that goes on in our house.
KING: So -- but it is true reality television, right?
S. OSBOURNE: It is true reality TV, nothing but nothing is ever scripted.
KING: You are aware there is a camera?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, of course, all the time. But nothing is scripted, Kate.
KING: Atlanta, hello.
CALLER: Hello, Sharon. I have a question for you.
I would like to know actually if you realize what an icon in my eyes and what an inspiration that you are to women all over the world since your show is being aired?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, thank you very much. It means a lot to me. Thank you very much.
KING: Thanks for saying that. Parker, Colorado, hello.
CALLER: Hi. Sharon, I have a question for you.
S. OSBOURNE: Go on.
CALLER: I just wanted to let you know, first of all, I think that I would fit in your family perfectly.
S. OSBOURNE: Well, come on over.
CALLER: I would definitely love to. My question to you is what is the future of "The Osbournes" in the program and for everything in the future?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, we have another season in the can, as they say, that's my TV talk. We have another 10 episodes in the can, which I think airs in June.
KING: Cameras are out of the house now?
S. OSBOURNE: Actually, tomorrow is our last day of filming, our last day. And I honestly don't know. Let's say in the next year I can't foresee it, but maybe after that. Because you never say never. So but right now I don't know.
KING: Next year you can foresee doing the show again?
S. OSBOURNE: No.
KING: Ozzy continues with the Ozzfest in the summer.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, Ozzy will always tour because he's like a touraholic. He has to keep going out and performing.
KING: He has to sing.
S. OSBOURNE: Has to. That is his shtick. When he doesn't, he drives me mad.
KING: We'll take a break, come back and more calls for Sharon, and then the man will join us. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop it.
O. OSBOURNE: Don't scream. Please, don't scream. Is he behind the mirror?
(CROSSTALK)
O. OSBOURNE: I'm not -- just calm down, man.
S. OSBOURNE: Be careful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step on here.
S. OSBOURNE: No, no, no. It is a horrible idea.
J. OSBOURNE: Dad, I don't like this at all.
K. OSBOURNE: Dad, stop!
K. OSBOURNE: I beg you.
J. OSBOURNE: Squeeze that at it. It will scare him.
O. OSBOURNE: What am I squeezing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back the wife and business manager of legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne. And she will have her own syndicated TV talk show this fall. We'll ask her about that. Ozzy will be joining us in a couple of minutes. LaToya Jackson is the guest tomorrow night. Thursday night, we are in Washington with Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, the oldest ranking member of the -- the dean of the Senate, 50 years in the U.S. Senate. Doesn't make many television appearances. He'll be with us on Thursday.
Back to the phone calls for Sharon. London, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Larry.
KING: Hi.
CALLER: Good evening, Sharon. I was just wondering, first of all, I'd like to say that I think you're a loving mother, caring wife and just a shrewd businesswoman.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you.
CALLER: And I was wondering if I'm looking into getting into the business, I'm only 20 years old and I'm looking into the management side of things, do you have any advice?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, you never give up. You keep going and you don't take no for an answer.
KING: And take any job you can to get in.
S. OSBOURNE: Anything to get in and learn your craft. You have to start at the bottom and work your way up.
KING: When does your show start?
S. OSBOURNE: September 15.
KING: Who is syndicating it?
S. OSBOURNE: I can't remember, Larry.
KING: You don't the company that is syndicating it?
S. OSBOURNE: Oh, no, it's Time Warner that's doing it, yes.
KING: Telepictures.
S. OSBOURNE: Telepictures, yes.
KING: You're replacing Rosie O'Donnell, in a sense. Is it a daytime show?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, but nobody could replace Rosie.
KING: Iowa City, Iowa, hello.
CALLER: Hello, Sharon.
S. OSBOURNE: Hi.
CALLER: Hi. My question for you is you really just -- I really enjoy your show. It's wonderful.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you.
CALLER: And I was just wondering, could you tell me what your secret is to raising such a healthy family?
S. OSBOURNE: I tell you, there is no secret, there is no -- there were no books on it. I mean, everybody has a different philosophy. Ozzy...
KING: What is yours?
S. OSBOURNE: Ozzy's and my philosophy has always been just to be honest and truthful and teach our kids good morals. I know that we swear a lot, but, you know, they have good moral standings and they don't swear when they're out.
KING: Palm Coast, Florida, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Sharon. I want to say you and Ozzy had three children together?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
CALLER: How come the oldest daughter doesn't appear on the show?
S. OSBOURNE: Because everybody, you know, had a decision to make. And her decision was that she wanted to keep her life private and she didn't want to be in the spotlight at this time. She is -- she is pursuing a singing career, but at this time, you know, she didn't want to be part of our show. So I can only respect her for that.
KING: So what happens when she comes in the house? S. OSBOURNE: The cameras don't shoot.
KING: Is that kind of awkward?
S. OSBOURNE: It is. It is awkward, but, you know, it's our daughter so that's it.
KING: Being that kind of family, you respect her opinion, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Absolutely.
KING: She's the oldest?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, yes.
KING: We're going to take a break. When we come back, Ozzy Osbourne, the legend himself, will join us. We will be taking calls for Ozzy as well. So you can get in on -- for either Sharon or Ozzy, as our saga with the Osbournes continues. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O. OSBOURNE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
S. OSBOURNE: Shut up.
O. OSBOURNE: I don't like it, OK?
K. OSBOURNE: Mom, that's a very Ricky Martin coat. I can't give him that.
(CROSSTALK)
O. OSBOURNE: Sharon, this is (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It is not feminine looking, is it?
S. OSBOURNE: No, rock star.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE. He's joined us. We have been -- we have been speaking with Sharon Osbourne for the first four segments of the show. And in the last two segments, Ozzy Osbourne joins us, the legendary Grammy-winning heavy metal rocker whose DVD of the Emmy-winning first season of "The Osbournes" will be released tomorrow. The DVD of the Emmy-winning first season of "The Osbournes" will be released tomorrow.
Ozzy, how has your wife done so far?
O. OSBOURNE: She's my hero. I mean, the pain, the suffering, the fight that she's had over the last nine months has been -- I mean, they say women are the weakest sex, I don't believe that, because I couldn't have gone through what she's gone through. KING: Is it true that you're a hypochondriac?
O. OSBOURNE: Big time.
KING: Big time. So you hate -- a needle drives you nuts, right?
O. OSBOURNE: I would rather take a needle to save my life. If I go to the doctor regularly for checkups, every year for a checkup, you know.
S. OSBOURNE: Twice a year.
KING: But you would go for anything. Right? You get a pimple, you panic.
O. OSBOURNE: No, I believe if you catch things early enough and you...
KING: You made her go early?
O. OSBOURNE: I went first. And I had a colonoscopy, and they found a polyp inside of me. And I persuaded Sharon to go, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) which was a miracle, you know.
KING: What has been the secret of your marriage, Ozzy?
O. OSBOURNE: I think we -- it's that rock 'n' roll and you're rocking and rolling, you don't give up at the first bend. You know, marriage, especially in Los Angeles here, is -- it's -- you get married one week and divorce the next. I mean, I couldn't imagine myself being with any other woman, other than my wife Sharon.
KING: Even though you have had tough times at times?
O. OSBOURNE: Everybody does. I mean, when I hear people say, you know, we've been married for 20 years and we never said a cross word between us, I think they must be living in different houses. Because some days -- we just get off to a bad start, you know.
KING: Are you happy with the television show?
O. OSBOURNE: I don't watch it.
KING: But you know what they're doing.
O. OSBOURNE: I know what they're doing. I know what they're doing. I don't watch it purely because I'm not a television person. And if I see something on the show that I dislike, then the next time I'm aware of that and I'm trying to ...
KING: Change it?
O. OSBOURNE: Change it. So I don't watch it because -- not because I don't like it, it's because I don't -- I don't -- I want to be as real as it can possibly be without -- if I've got a stammer or walk funny or trip (UNINTELLIGIBLE)... KING: Or chasing a cat?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes, or chasing a cat or...
KING: You -- Sharon told us that you still occasionally take drugs.
O. OSBOURNE: Prescribed.
KING: Prescribed drugs?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: Are they -- is he addicted to any prescribed drug?
O. OSBOURNE: I have to take a drug called Klonopin, which is like a Benzedrine. It's purely because when I used to be drinking heavily -- I'm like a binge drinker now. I'll go on and I'll go on, I'll go off. When I...
KING: You still will binge drink?
O. OSBOURNE: Oh, yes. But if I got work to do, it stops.
KING: What happens to you when he goes on the binge? Binge means he can go for three or four days, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Oh, yes.
O. OSBOURNE: Months, weeks.
KING: Months?
S. OSBOURNE: Months.
KING: Months of drinking every day? How you to live with that?
O. OSBOURNE: She don't. She moves out.
S. OSBOURNE: That's not true.
KING: What do you do?
S. OSBOURNE: Well, I mean, after so many years together, I know what to expect and I know what he's capable of and I know that at the -- he's going to -- at some point he's going to have that clarity and he's going to go, it's enough. And so I'm off. So he'll stay straight for the next year and then...
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) kind of an idiot, but why would a hypochondriac...
O. OSBOURNE: Self-medication.
KING: ... binge drink?
O. OSBOURNE: Self-medication.
KING: That's medication to you?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes, I mean, a couple of days -- I feel more comfortable drinking a couple of beers than I am a Valium or...
KING: So liquor is your Prozac?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes, yes, yes. No, not my Prozac, but I've always self-medicated myself.
KING: So when he's on a binge what is happening, like, in your life? Isn't it hard to live with?
S. OSBOURNE: No, not now. It was. It was very hard but I learned to live with it and I know what's going to happen. .
KING: You know when it's coming?
S. OSBOURNE: I know when it's coming, I know when it's going to will end.
O. OSBOURNE: She goes to me, and I go I love you. I've just recently got off a binge and she goes, Ozzy, it's work time. And I go, OK, Mama, because I call her mama.
KING: And you can stop drinking?
O. OSBOURNE: I can't stop on my own. I go my doctor who sedates me for a couple of days so I don't go into a seizure.
KING: What a life, Ozzy.
O. OSBOURNE: Base of rock 'n' roll.
KING: Does it affect your singing?
O. OSBOURNE: If it continues. I've never -- I've been on stage drunk maybe ten times in my whole career. My drinking starts after the shows. But with Sharon, cracks the whip. Sharon goes, Come on, Ozzy, get yourself together, you know.
KING: How do the kids handle it?
O. OSBOURNE: I think that they're -- they're kind of used to it...
KING: How do they handle it in your opinion, Sharon?
S. OSBOURNE: They're used to it, they don't like it. I mean they don't go, Oh, great, Dad's drunk tonight. Let invite a round of few friends, you know and have a party. Oh, sorry. But they're used to it. They don't like it. It affects them.
KING: Do you know when it is starting? Can you say my binge is starting? O. OSBOURNE: Well, I just drink a few beers...
KING: That's it? And that gets you going?
O. OSBOURNE: I have restrictions. I try and stay away from hard liquor. I'll have wine, beer. But, like, for instance, I've got a show coming up in Vegas in a couple of weeks. And so I'm preparing -- one thing I do do every single day, I exercise every day. So I do like two hours...
KING: You're in good shape?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes. The other week I ran around six miles which I've never run six miles in my life.
S. OSBOURNE: But his liver is this big.
KING: How do you...
O. OSBOURNE: No, my...
S. OSBOURNE: I know, I'm teasing, I'm teasing. I swear.
O. OSBOURNE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) doctors today and say my liver's fine.
S. OSBOURNE: I know.
KING: How do you explain the success of "The Osbournes" to yourself?
O. OSBOURNE: I think that the -- the overwhelming thing of all, people -- what I pick up from people that stopped me in the street is the fact that -- it's obvious we all love each other.
I mean, a funny story. On the last Ozzfest I was in Boston. And I never realized the power of TV. I mean, rock 'n' roll's this big. TV's this big.
KING: You didn't get...
O. OSBOURNE: And so I was in Boston and this woman stops me, very conservative woman stops me and she goes, What are you doing in Boston? I'm doing a show. She goes, What kind of a show? And I go, Rock 'n' roll show. And she goes, Oh, you do that as well? I go, Ma'am, I've only been doing it for 36 years. She goes, You have? Because people know me just primarily from the show, you know.
KING: Let's just start -- include some calls for Ozzy as well, Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne. Indianapolis, hello.
CALLER: Hi.
O. OSBOURNE: Hi.
S. OSBOURNE: Hi. CALLER: Hello. Hi, Ozzy. Hi, Sharon.
S. OSBOURNE: Hi.
CALLER: We love you here in the Midwest. I just wanted to say I'm glad Burt is gone. And I wanted to say -- I have a little miniature poodle that's from our local humane society, his name's Elliott. And I wanted to know if your dogs, if any of them are from the humane society or if they are all from breeders.
S. OSBOURNE: They're all from breeders. But, in fact, my daughter Kelly brought home a cat, a very old cat last night, that was from the rescue. Named Mojo.
KING: Redlands, California, hello.
CALLER: Hello.
KING: Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Ozzy, Sharon, how you guys doing?
S. OSBOURNE: Hi.
O. OSBOURNE: Hi.
CALLER: I want to say thank you, Sharon, for all your hard work and years of managing Ozzy. And, Ozzy, thank you for your music, man.
O. OSBOURNE: Thank you.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you.
CALLER: It's a beautiful thing. My question is, the stuff that you do before you go on concert, all that comedy stuff that you put out and stuff like that, are you ever going to put that stuff on DVD?
S. OSBOURNE: We hope to one day, but I must tell you, I mean, we don't have permission to do any of it. We really do steal it and put it up there on the screen. So we'd have to get permission from everybody and I don't think they'd give it to us. But hopefully one day they might.
KING: But the DVD of the Emmy Award winning first season of 'The Osbournes" is out tomorrow.
We'll come back with a lot more moments and more phone calls for the Osbournes on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
K. OSBOURNE: This whole things, freaking me out, man. The word "cancer" and the word "chemo."
O. OSBOURNE: We're a family and we'll stick together and we'll just get through it one way or another. (PHONE RINGING)
K. OSBOURNE: Hello?
O. OSBOURNE: The most obnoxious (expletive deleated) ring.
K. OSBOURNE: I have to go, good-bye.
O. OSBOURNE: Another boyfriend?
K. OSBOURNE: I don't have boyfriends. I don't want a boyfriend.
O. OSBOURNE: I hope you don't want a (expletive deleated) girlfriend. I'm only joking. I hope.
K. OSBOURNE: Dad!
O. OSBOURNE: That was a good shot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O. OSBOURNE: I'm going to write "The Ozzy 10 Commandments." Thout should not get out of bed 'til 12:00. Thou should call your a (expletive deleated) wrinkled-up old (expletive deleated). Thout shall shop (ph) your father for being a junkie. Thout shall not even consider the possibility of work.
I'm going write them and stick them on the (expletive deleated) wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Another Ozzfest coming this summer. Lined up for the year include Marilyn Manson, Korn, Chevelle, Disturbed -- that's the name of the group, Disturbed?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
O. OSBOURNE: Nice band. They look like a folk band.
KING: Wait a minute...
O. OSBOURNE: They end up singing "Kumbayah" at the end of the set.
KING: Cradle of Filth.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
(LAUGHTER) KING: Trust Company and Hot Wire, right? They're all going on tour with you.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: What's it like when you're all together, Oz? Lot of laughs backstage?
O. OSBOURNE: Well, the Ozzfest is like a machine. It starts at 9:00 and ends at about -- what time?
S. OSBOURNE: Eleven.
O. OSBOURNE: Eleven. It's nonstop music.
KING: Two hours concert. You're going open in San Antonio.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes. It's actually 14 hours of music. The whole date is 20, 21, 22 bands all day.
KING: You abandoned San Antonio once
O. OSBOURNE: Yes, for relieving myself at the Alamo.
KING: Were you on a binge then?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: OK. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hello.
CALLER: Hi.
KING: Hi.
CALLER: Ozzy?
O. OSBOURNE: Yes?
CALLER: My girlfriend across the street, she calls my husband and I Ozzy and Sharon of Cedar Rapids.
My husband and I would like to know, Sharon, are you going to be with Ozzy on Ozzfest this year traveling around?
O. OSBOURNE: No.
S. OSBOURNE: I am. I'm going to go back and forth. Ozzy doesn't want me to because he's worried for me, but I am going to be back and forth, I am, definitely.
KING: Now wait a minute. Why he did say no?
O. OSBOURNE: Because if she -- it is my understanding that after you finish chemo, it takes as much time to get over the chemo as you do...
KING: So he's thinking of your health.
S. OSBOURNE: That's what he thinks of, yes.
KING: So maybe you ought to listen to him.
O. OSBOURNE: She's the unstoppable Sharon.
KING: OK. To Ashdod, Israel, hello.
S. OSBOURNE: Ah, Israel.
CALLER: Hi, Ozzy and Sharon, I think you guys are great.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you.
CALLER: I wanted to know, Ozzy, does it at all bother you that you're kind of -- your image from the Prince of Darkness has pretty much been shattered ever since the show started and now you're like Mr. Mom.
O. OSBOURNE: No, not really. It's a side of my life that I choose let the world see, you know?
KING: The Prince of Darkness was an act?
O. OSBOURNE: No. It's what people called me. I didn't call myself the Prince of Darkness.
KING: I see. Caller, are they popular in Israel?
CALLER: You're very popular. And everybody loves you here. It's crazy about you.
S. OSBOURNE: I tell you, I would love, love to come to Israel, but I'm just so scared. But I would love to go.
KING: You've never been there?
S. OSBOURNE: I have never been and I want to go so bad.
KING: Jerusalem is one of the great cities of the world.
S. OSBOURNE: Give them all my love.
KING: They love you in Jerusalem. You could bring world peace, Ozzy. Just go down the street and nobody would bother -- nobody would fight.
S. OSBOURNE: No, they would blow us up.
KING: To Fortville, New York, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Sharon and Ozzy.
O. OSBOURNE: Hi. CALLER: I just want to let you know that you guys are awesome people. My mom is a Mormon and she has her haircut and dyed just like you, Sharon.
S. OSBOURNE: All right.
O. OSBOURNE: All right.
KING: Well, the Mormons appreciate you. You are family. They don't go for cursing, but your family stays together. That's big. Why do you curse?
O. OSBOURNE: Because it -- well, the reason why I curse is a good way of expressing yourself. You don't go -- I mean, the f word has a definite...
KING: Impact.
O. OSBOURNE: Impact, yes.
KING: Do you have a question, caller?
CALLER: I was wondering if you guys prefer living in England or in America?
O. OSBOURNE: Wherever my wife is and my family, that's where I prefer to be.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes, we're kind of gypsies, you know? As long as we're together, it's fine.
KING: No preference for either?
S. OSBOURNE: No.
KING: OK. Sayer, Pennsylvania, hello.
CALLER: Yes, hi, Sharon and Ozzy.
My brother and I are real really big fans and we had a question for you. How you to talk to your children about drugs -- not taking drugs?
S. OSBOURNE: Very honestly.
O. OSBOURNE: I don't have to talk to my kids about taking drugs, because they've seen vans, ambulances, police cars -- you name it, and I've been in a whole bunch of rehabs and I think my behavior put them off the idea, you know?
KING: You set of an example that they're afraid of drugs?
O. OSBOURNE: Not that they're afraid. They call it dope. It makes you dopey. My son -- my son, Jack, is really cool, you know? The way I talk to my son, I talk to him like a guy, like two guys talking instead of daddy and son, you know? I say, you know, Jack -- the one thing I'm really up-front about and I don't mix -- make any punches is sex. I say, you know, you have sex, you wear protection. You know, and that's the way I tell them.
S. OSBOURNE: And I think, too, the world that we live in, they've seen so many people who are on drugs and the outcome of what actually happens to you at end of the day. They've seen so many people that have ended up badly.
KING: Yes. Toronto, hello.
CALLER: Hi.
KING: Hi, go ahead.
CALLER: OK. I have a question for Ozzy.
KING: Go ahead.
O. OSBOURNE: Go ahead.
CALLER: OK. I am wondering how he got his name Ozzy.
O. OSBOURNE: Well, really quite easy to work that one out. My real name is John Michael Osbourne and people -- kids at school called me Ozzy.
KING: For Osbourne.
O. OSBOURNE: Ozzy Osbourne. And I don't -- if I was to walk on down the street and someone called me, John, I wouldn't notice. I mean, not that I'm ignorant or being stuck up, but nobody calls me Ozzy -- John now. Everybody calls me Ozzy.
KING: Al right. We only have a minute and a half left. Back to your health. You will have what kind of test tomorrow?
S. OSBOURNE: PET scan and some other scan.
KING: Is this to see that it hasn't spread?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: You feel OK?
S. OSBOURNE: I feel not OK. I feel great.
KING: You don't want her to travel?
O. OSBOURNE: I want her to take care herself, because Sharon is one of these people that she can be on death's door one day and then at the next day she'll be in Bloomingdale's shopping in New York.
S. OSBOURNE: Say Chanel.
O. OSBOURNE: Or Chanel or wherever. I call her the unstoppable Sharon because the last time I took her to Caesar's she went down on me because she did too much.
KING: You owed him.
S. OSBOURNE: Big time.
O. OSBOURNE: All I've done in the last 12 months is tried to save my wife's life, you know?
KING: It's been a delight having you. Who made that watch?
O. OSBOURNE: Actually, I don't think it's a watch. I think it fell off a church steeple.
S. OSBOURNE: It's Jacob the Jeweler from New York.
KING: Let me see this. Jacob the Jeweler.
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
KING: This is a watch. This is a watch.
O. OSBOURNE: The only thing is I can't tell the time.
KING: Neither can I. There's too many jewels.
Thank you, Sharon.
S. OSBOURNE: Thank you so much. Thank you.
KING: I'll be back in a minute to tell you about tomorrow night. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Tomorrow night, LaToya Jackson joins us. Dr. Andrew Weil on Wednesday, and Senator Robert Byrd Thursday.
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