Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne have known each other for close to 20 years now. The two first met the night before they were scheduled to appear as judges together on America’s Got Talent in 2007. Morgan and Osbourne would end up butting heads during that initial broadcast because of the way Morgan spoke to one of the young contestants. Morgan accused the nine-year-old girl’s mother of pushing her to do the show, which offended Osbourne and caused her to storm off the set:
But that was nothing compared to what happened between the pair at the previous evening’s dinner. As Morgan explained in a 2017 episode of Loose Women, he’d written some not-so-complimentary things about Osbourne prior to the meeting in question. Though everyone got along at the beginning, Morgan eventually said something that he described as being “confrontational” toward Osbourne, sparking a pretty violent response. Neither of them seems to recall what the exchange was about, but they’ve both confirmed that whatever it was culminated in Osbourne choking Morgan from behind.
Sharon Osbourne Once Choked Piers Morgan at Dinner in Front of NBC Executives
“It wasn’t funny. She was literally throttling me,” Morgan recalled, after pointing out that this happened in front of a room full of NBC executives. Osbourne’s husband, Ozzy, tried to pull them apart, but it was Jerry Springer—interestingly enough—who was finally able to get Osbourne off of Morgan. While speaking with The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine in 2021, Osbourne revealed that she also slapped Morgan while all of this was going on. However, when the Osbournes got home that night, Ozzy insisted that she call Morgan and apologize.
Morgan and Osbourne made up over the phone, unbeknownst to the people at NBC, who’d hired a bunch of bodyguards to protect Morgan from Osbourne. Although Osbourne has acknowledged that she and Morgan still “argue like hell,” the pair remain good friends to this day. Osbourne even got fired from The Talk for defending Morgan in 2021. You can listen to Morgan recount the story of their altercation, alongside Osbourne, in the clip below.
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