Sharon Osbourne’s Scathing Remarks and Witty Retorts: A Look at the Celebrity Big Brother Star’s Unforgettable Insults and Comebacks

Sharon Osbourne has earned herself a reputation based on her acid tongue over the years and her fearlessness of using it to attack.

The former X Factor judge, 71, has unleashed several harsh barbs at a number of people over the years, from A-listers, to X Factor contestants to her own employees.

After entering the Celebrity Big Brother house on Monday as the show’s first ‘lodger’ she has already not been shy about making her feelings known.

After a long career on TV, many of her biggest outbursts have been immortalized, while she has also opted to write open letters and give interviews full off shocking comebacks.

MailOnline have taken a look at Sharon’s most savage put-downs over the years to show why she has proved herself to have the sharpest tongue in showbiz.

James Corden, Anna Wintour and Ellen DeGeneres 

The latest targets for Sharon’s acid tongue were a trifecta of stars – James Corden, Anna Wintour and Ellen DeGeneres.

Sharon slammed her fellow celebrities while speaking to Louis Walsh and Gary Goldsmith on Celebrity Big Brother this week.  

Recalling her meetings with A-listers, Sharon admitted she thinks James is a name dropper and called Anna ‘the C-word’.

Gary said: ‘When my friends talk about people they know or people they’ve met, we would always take the mick and say, “well if you drop the names, I’ll pick them up”.’

Sharon replied: ‘I’ll tell you who does that, James Corden. He does that all the time.’

The star claimed James likes to tell people what designer clothes he owns and she also thinks he ‘played the L.A. game’ when he left the UK for Hollywood.

She said: ‘I go to him, “I really like your shoes,” and he goes, “Yeah, Stella McCartney.” I’m like, I didn’t ask you who made them, I just said I like your shoes. He played the L.A. game really well.’

Louis said: ‘Kissing all the right people. Anna Wintour, mwah, mwah.’

Sharon replied: ‘Oh she loves him, loves him. But who loves Anna Wintour? I think she’s the C-word.’

‘Yeah, she is,’ Louis agreed. ‘And Ellen DeGeneres?’

Sharon then mimed vomiting at the mention of the American comedian’s name.  

Dannii Minogue 

Sharon and Dannii Minogue made no secret of their dislike for each other during their time together on X Factor as they embroiled in a public spat. 

The pair only judged together for one season, but it was enough to spark tensions and backstage drama. 

Dannii revealed at the time that Sharon screamed abuse at her in her dressing room and reduced her to tears just minutes before she was due on stage.

After Dannii joined the show, stories circulated in the press about how Sharon was utterly distraught that Dannii had been made a judge and feared it meant she herself was on the way out. 

Storming into Dannii’s dressing room, she accused the Australian singer of speaking negatively about her to the press as she screamed: ‘I don’t need this! ‘I’m a mother, for f***’s sake, do you think I need all this s*** in my life?’

But it was during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show in 2007 that Sharon really unleashed the full force of her biting criticism.

She declared that Dannii was only on the show because of her looks and because Simon fancied her.

She said: ‘[Dannii] knows she’s there because of her looks, not because of her contribution to the music industry.’

As the audience gasped in shock, she laughed in delight before mimicking Dannii and saying: ‘You hate me because I’m so young and beautiful and Simon wants me and doesn’t want you.’

She then quipped: ‘You’re right mate, that’s the only thing she got right. She’s younger, she’s better-looking, Simon wants her and he doesn’t want me – thank God.’

When fellow guest David Boreanaz asked to see a photo of Dannii, Sharon said: ‘Look at this’ before pointing at her bottom.

As the audience laughed in shock, Sharon threw herself on the floor laughing and said: ‘I’ve been waiting weeks to get my own back! F*** em all!’

Rebecca Loos 

In 2006, Sharon left X Factor viewers stunned when she gave Rebecca Loos some brutal advice after her ‘affair’ with David Beckham, and delivered a volley of brutal put downs.

The Dutch glamour model and reality TV star hit the headlines in 2004 after she allegedly had an affair with the football megastar while working as his family’s PA.

Rebecca went on to appear on The X Factor: Battle of the Stars, where she sang Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love alongside James Hewitt, who had a year-long affair with Princess Diana while she was married to Prince Charles.

After the performance, Sharon told the pair: ‘Good song choice for you two. Very appropriate song for you both to sing.’

She continued: ‘It’s amazing, because you both have so much in common and it shows on stage. You do.’ 

Sharon proceeded to tell former army officer James he ‘should be shot’ for his performance. 

She then turned to Rebecca and said: ‘Mrs, you know what, if you get through tonight you should try doing tomorrow’s performance with your knickers on. Because it will help warm up your voice a bit more.’

Rebecca hit back: ‘Sharon, I didn’t expect to get a very nice comment from you because you’ve completely shunned me throughout this whole show, but that’s OK.’ 

Sharon quipped: ‘You’ve got a very bad vibe that comes from you.’

Fellow judge Louis stepped in and said: ‘It wasn’t that bad Sharon, she carried the whole performance.’ 

Sharon baffled viewers when she finished her comments by praising Rebecca’s boob job, saying: ‘You’ve got very nice boobs though, you’ve got a very good boob job.’

As Rebecca responded she was doing the show for charity,v Sharon shot back: ‘It’s your own charity’ as the audience booed. 

Bruce Dickinson 

Sharon had a long-standing feud with Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, in the noughties and took her revenge by using her sharp tongue.

Many believe the feud began in 2005, when Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath co-headlined Ozzfest – an annual heavy-metal festival founded by Sharon and Ozzy.

The band were reportedly unimpressed with the way it was run and the publicity surrounding the Osbournes from their reality show. 

To get revenge, Sharon engaged in several pranks to disrupt their last performance on the tour.

The band was pelted with eggs, the PA system cut off and stage invaders ran on during the set carrying a flag that read ‘Don’t f— with Ozzy’, while Sharon took to the stage and told the crowd that Bruce was a ‘p****’.

She doubled down on her dislike for the singer in 2022, telling Consequence: ‘Bruce Dickinson is a f***ing p****,’ she said. ‘Well, no, he’s not a p****because a p****’s nice. He’s a f***ing a*****e.

‘And he’s never apologized, he never even went up and said hello to Ozzy. The thing about him is that he is just so jealous. And always has been of Ozzy. And that’s his problem.’ 

Megan Hauserman

Sharon showed she was not a woman to be trifled with in December 2008 on her American reality show, Charm School.

The series saw her teach manners to people who have been thrown off other reality shows because of their unruly behaviour, in order for them to win 100,000 dollars.

When contestant and former glamour model Megan Hauserman was ‘expelled’ from the school in week four, Sharon said: ‘You’ve not changed since Rock of Love (original TV show). Still the same b***hy, backstabbing girl that you are. 

‘Yeah, you changed your clothes today, but Megan, in here you’re still a b***h… a real f***ing b***h.’

During the reunion six months later, the two women were still at odds and when Megan announced her chihuahua Lily was being ‘fixed’, Sharon said Megan shouldn’t be allowed to have children either.

She said: ‘I think you should join her and have that operation too. I do not think you should be allowed to breed, my dear. I think that one of you is enough for any country.’

Megan hit back, telling her former mentor she was only famous for managing her ‘brain dead rock star husband’.

A fuming Sharon stood up and picked up a glass of juice and hurled it over Megan’s rhinestone bikini, before jumping on her.

Megan alleged Sharon grabbed her and pulled her by the hair and later filed a police complaint for alleged assault, being seen leaving the hospital with her arm in a sling.

After Megan was escorted out, Sharon lapped up the audience applause and took one final shot, saying: ‘I feel so sorry for her.’

Vic Reeves 

Sharon cause the BRIT Awards to be hit by a slew of Ofcom complaints in 2008, after she unleashed a torrent of abuse on Vic Reeves in yet another spicy tirade.

She accused the comedian of being drunk while he was presenting the award for Best British Album and barged him out the way.

Vic made an ill-judged quip about Kylie Minogue saying the singer was ‘all right, a bit of work there and she will be OK’.

This appeared to enrage Sharon even further, causing her to push Vic out the way and grab the statuette from him.

She yelled: ‘Shut up, you’re p***ed, p*** off you b******!’ and tried to reveal the winner herself, but Vic managed to shout it ou first.

Former assistant 

Sharon caused outrage in 2019, when she revealed she had once forced a former assistant to go back into her burning house to save artwork, before firing him afterwards.

She made the confession on Would I Lie To You? adding that she even tore an oxygen mask off of the employee to give to one of her dogs.

Sharon admitted that she forced the man to go back into the house and when he became concerned he had suffered lung damage in the aftermath, she sacked him for not finding it funny.

She said: ‘I once sacked a member of my staff because he showed absolutely no sense of humor during a house fire’.

During the usual questioning from the other contestants, she explained the fire began after she and Ozzy had left a candle burning when they went to bed.

She recalled they were woken by the fire alarm and she sent her husband down, before hearing him shouting for help because his arm and hair had caught alight.

Sharon put out the flames by hitting him with a magazine and pushing him into a fountain, and then ordered the assistant to ‘go in and get the paintings out.’

When he initially refused, Sharon told him: “How very dare you. You work here and you get more paintings out right now.”

She continued: “I took the mask and I put it on my dog. After this terrible night he was not talking to me. 

‘Ozzy and I were recounting everything and we were laughing and laughing. He goes, “I don’t see what is funny about any of this. I think I’m going to have damaged lungs.”

‘I said, “If you don’t think that’s funny, do you think this is funny? You’re fired”.’

Following the overwhelmingly negative backlash, Sharon backtracked her comments on The Talk in 2020, claiming the story was ‘true’ but that she added the bit about firing the employee, ‘just to be precocious’.

She claimed: ‘It was a joke because I was on a comedy show’ but her response was met with scepticism.

Chris Tarrant

Sharon also took aim at Chris Tarrant on the X Factor in 2006, after he made a joke about her husband Ozzy’s slurring.

During an advert break for the show, the show’s warm-up man spotted Chris and his stepdaughter sitting in the studio audience, and asked him for his opinion on the judges.

Put on the spot, Chris told Sharo: ‘Sharon, you are beautiful, warm and caring – and you have the most articulate husband in the world.’

Red-faced with rage, Sharon is said to have screamed at a bemused Chris and hit out at his very public marriage split.

She reportedly said: ‘Don’t you dare diss my f***ing family. How dare you say those f***ing things – at least I’m in a f***ing marriage!’ 

Speaking about the angry tirade later, Sharon said: ‘The sarcastic words, the grin, the red face – everything collides and it’s like a nuclear explosion inside me.

”’Don’t you DARE talk about my f****** family’ You shut your mouth you ****!” I could feel myself shaking and blood was pounding in my ears.

‘The grin on his face had disappeared and the whole place was silent. “Listen you” I say. “What about you, you lying piece of ****? At least my husband and I are a team. You piece of ****. Go **** yourself”.’

She was later forced to apologise to the audience for her outburst, but refused to say sorry to the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? presenter.

Lady Gaga

One unexpected famous face that found themselves on the defense from vitriolic attacks from Sharon, was Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga had been caught up in a feud with Sharon’s daughter Kelly after Kelly made several comments about the singer’s weight and said she thought she must be pregnant. 

Lady Gaga’s fans responded with outrage, with some even sending Kelly death threats, leading to Sharon getting involved.

Lady Gaga wrote a public letter, saying Kelly should ‘defend others who are bullied for their image.’ 

She added Kelly has ‘chosen a less compassionate path’, and criticised her work as a correspondent on E!’s Fashion Police, calling it ‘rooted in criticism, judgment, and rating people’s beauty against one another.’

But Sharon stayed true to her character and hit back with a scathing open letter to the pop star, calling her a bully and ‘nothing more than a publicity seeking hypocrite and attention seeker’.

She wrote: ‘I am perplexed as to why you would go public with an open letter’ and added: ‘How sweet that you have empathy for my daughter, as you feel that she has taken a less passionate path in life.’

She continued: ‘By your actions to Kelly right now, you have shown me that you are nothing more than a publicly seeking hypocrite and an attention seeker. 

‘You know it would have been much more dignified of you to do this privately. I am calling you a bully because you have 32 million followers hanging on your every word and you are criticizing Kelly in your open letter. Are you so desperate that you needed to make this public?’

She concluded the letter: ‘Let me know if you want to continue this debate. I’m an open playing field for you my darling. Sincerely, Sharon Osbourne’.

Steve Brookstein

Sharon saved some of her harshest put downs to X Factor contestants, with Steve Brookstein being her biggest target. 

The very first series of the show in 2004, saw Sharon on the judging panel with Louis and Simon Cowell, and Steve, 55, becoming the eventual winner after becoming very popular with the public.

However, Sharon was not impressed at all and made her dislike for the singer well-known every week of the show.

She famously unleashed her ire on him in the final after he had performed his last long, in front of nine million viewers.

She said: ‘Everybody knows the way I feel about Steve. I’ve never been a Steve fan. Steve has a very nice voice. For me he’s not a superstar.

‘I just have to say this, I am so fed up of Mr. Humble and Mr. Should I Sell My Volkswagen? Should I keep it? He has been over-confident from day one. He’s not what he seems.

‘But believe me, all that bull**** that he gives out every week, he’s even fooled Simon. He’s full of c**p and he’s an average singer, ask everybody else on this contest. He’s overly-confident.’

Steve later admitted that the comments ‘hurt’ and said Sharon had often insulted him throughout the show off camera, even calling him a ‘f***ing c***’ in rehearsal in front of the entire production team.

He said: ‘Sharon often says nasty things to me during rehearsals which she won’t say on camera. When she did it during the final rehearsal I just looked at her and pretended not to hear her, by saying ‘blah, blah, blah, blah’.

‘She just went into one, standing up and shouting at me, calling me every name on the sun, effing and blinding. I just stood there thinking ‘wow’.’

Sharon later revealed she had been asked by the producers to apologise to Steve but refused and admitted slamming him in rehearsals ahead of the final. 

In her autobiography, she said had blown her fuse after his performance, writing: ”You disrespectful piece of s***,’ I said. ‘You are not good enough to f***ing wash my underwear. You are a talentless, worthless piece of s**t and I’m going to let everybody know about you tonight’.’

Sharon also poked fun at Steve’s ‘designer stubble’ and joked he had turned up to his audition ‘looking like he’d been down the pub all night’, but admitted she ‘took it too far’ with her public blasting of him in the live final.

She said: ‘I had forgotten that this was a TV show. I had forgotten that the audience at home needed someone to warm to. Perfection wasn’t what they wanted.

‘I heard that Simon never wanted to see me again, never wanted to talk to me again, never wanted to work with me again, and I didn’t blame him. I had just committed professional hara-kiri. I thought I would never hear from anybody at ITV again.’

Ashton Kutcher 

Sharon clapped back against another famous star during a segment on E! News last September, branding Ashton Kutcher the rudest celebrity she’s ever met.

The star and her daughter Kelly were playing a game called ‘Stir the Pot,’ where one of the questions was, ‘name the rudest celebrity you’ve ever met.’ 

And Sharon knew who to say right away… though she didn’t remember his name.

‘The guy that’s married to an actress and he used to do That 70s Show,’ Sharon said, as Kelly answered, ‘Oh, Ashton Kutcher? Really?’

‘Yes. Oh, rude, rude, rude, rude little boy,’ Sharon said, which surprised the interviewers, who said they were, ‘not prepared for that.’

‘Yes. Dastardly little thing,’ Sharon admitted, though she didn’t get into details on how she interacted with him. 

Jonnie Rocco 

After her return to the X Factor judging panel in 2013, it wasn’t long before Sharon was causing trouble again after she was reported for assault after throwing a pen at a pensioner. 

Jonnie Rocco, 73, began insulting Sharon’s rocker husband Ozzy during his audition, on the hot-headed red head was having none of it. 

After receiving a no from all four judges, Jonnie began to impersonate the Black Sabbath singer, as he quipped: ‘You think Ozzy can sing?’ 

Sharon angrily replied: ‘Don’t you talk about my f*****g husband’ before ordering security to ‘get him out my f*****g room’.

Appearing on Alan Carr’s Chatty Man, Sharon was unashamed of the incident and instead doubled down with yet another shocking comeback.

Alan said: ‘And you’ve already snapped, I heard you attacked an pensioner with a biro?’ 

Sharon confirmed: ‘I did too,’ before adding ‘and it should have been a knife.’ 

She said: ‘This old bloke comes in and starts s******g my old man, so I am like here what can I throw at you and I’m like “you can f**k off”. How dare he?’