Originally posted on The Los Angeles Times Newspaper Website. However, due to possible triggering items in that newspaper, it has not been linked.
by Christie D’Zurilla
08/03/2016
Ozzy Osbourne is a sex addict, his rep said Wednesday, by way of explaining the crash of the rocker’s marriage to Sharon Osbourne in May after a four-year affair went public.
“Over the last six years, Ozzy Osbourne has been dealing with a sex addiction,” the rep told People. The performer is undergoing “intense therapy.”
Meanwhile, Michelle Pugh, the other half of that affair, had a different story to tell. They met, she said, in 2011 when she first did his hair, and he made the first move a year later.
“When I say he gave me the greatest love of my life, I mean it,” Pugh told the magazine exclusively. “He made me feel like the most beautiful and worshiped woman in the world.”
The relationship “felt like an old-fashioned romance. Being courted. I loved it,” she said. “He made it clear to me and asked me not to see anyone else. We had a very real relationship.”
Ozzy, however, told People through his rep that he was “sorry if Ms. Pugh took their sexual relationship out of context” and said he “would like to apologize to the other women he has been having sexual relationships with.”
Ouch.
Sharon Osbourne spoke about the situation on “The Talk” on Wednesday, revealing that when Ozzy gets back from touring with Black Sabbath, he’ll be going into inpatient treatment for three months.
“It’s hard because it affects the whole family, and it’s quite embarrassing to talk about,” she said, choking up. “Somehow drugs and drink is more acceptable, I think, but when it’s somebody who has a sex addiction, it’s embarrassing.”
However, always quick with a quip, she added, “I think he should call Tiger Woods for some advice.”
Sharon had been similarly vulnerable when she returned to “The Talk” after taking a day off during the uproar in May, saying she couldn’t “keep living like this.” In other words, it sounded as if the affair wasn’t a one-time deal.
Daughter Kelly Osbourne took shots at Pugh shortly after that, tweeting the hairstylist’s mobile number to the public along with a few choice comments slamming her.
Defending her dad against a Twitter critic who pointed out that Ozzy should be equally to blame in the situation, she said, “My father is almost 70 ever heard of elder abuse?” She continued to lash out against critics the next day, leading mom Sharon to compliment Kelly on her sense of humor during the next episode of “The Talk.”
“Oh, Kelly has the best sense of humor ever. And you know what? In cases like this, what can you do but laugh?” Sharon said to her cohosts. “You have to laugh. She is just so funny.”
Pugh, however, wasn’t laughing. She told People that she sent Kelly Osbourne a cease and desist letter in May, demanding that her number be taken down. She said she’s been followed to work by tabloid reporters.
Kelly and Sharon “have come out and attacked me, berated me, and publicly shamed me on a global scale,” she alleged. Now she’s suing for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and public disclosure of private facts, according to court documents obtained by the magazine.
Kelly “went on a Twitter rampage,” Pugh said, “and she started getting responses the night that she tweeted my number out. Maybe four hours later, she started responding back to people. … I’m like, ‘elder abuse?’ We had a four-year relationship.”
That relationship hasn’t been enough to split the Osbournes. Sharon said in May that she’d kicked Ozzy out, but that he’d since moved back into their home and she’d moved out.
“The X Factor” judge told The Times in June that she was dealing with the drama in part by seeing a therapist regularly on her own and as a couple with Ozzy, and that he was doing therapy alone as well.
“I’m seeing what it’s like living on my own. … It’s very hard because we’re 34 years married, 36 years living as a couple, and I’ve known him for 40 years,” she said. “Of course, you miss that person.”
Sharon, 63, laid down the law about what she would need before she took back her 67-year-old husband.
“Respect. … I didn’t get that. It’s very hurtful when you don’t get that respect and consideration from your partner… Can I ever trust him again? I don’t know. I’m now questioning every statement, every move. … The lies and intrigue still hurt…
“Ideally, I would love for my husband to deal with his issues and work at the problems that he has now. And be honest and open … to be able to come back to us with honesty and respect for the family. That’s what I really wish.”
In late July, she confirmed they were back together as a couple.
“I just can’t think of my life without him,” Sharon told her “The Talk” cohosts. “Even though he is a dog. He’s a dirty dog. So there we are. He’s going to pay big.”
