The Truth About Sharon Osbourne's Estranged Brother
Like many people, The Talk co-host Sharon Osbourne has battled body image issues throughout various stages of her life. However, during a May 2020 episode of the show in which she discussed singer-songwriter Adele's surprise weight-loss reveal, Osbourne told viewers that her own brother David Arden used to fat-shame her when she was younger, per Metro U.K. "[He] used to get his friends to join in. It sticks with you," Osbourne said. "At times I was bigger than others. My weight has always [gone up and down] and that's it. It's been going on for hundreds of years, people going on about people's weight. And it never will end."
But the mere mention of her brother, whom Osbourne hasn't spoken to for 13 years, led the estranged sibling to share his side of the story, drawing renewed attention to their ongoing feud. "There are no pictures of her being overweight before the age 22, the reason being she was NOT," Arden told the Mirror in early June 2020. "She was naturally well built. Her weight problems did not begin until she was aged 22 or 23 after she split from her long time boyfriend." He added, "From memory this led to her constantly having her hand in the cookie jar. But the fat shaming by me and my friends is complete fiction."
However, Osbourne's most recent accusations barely graze the surface of her fraught relationship with Arden over the years.
Sharon Osbourne's brother David Arden compared her to 'Hitler or Dracula'
As Sharon Osbourne commented on singer-songwriter Adele's weight loss, The Talk co-host told viewers that, in her experience, women aren't happy when they're overweight. "When these women say that they are really happy in their body I don't believe them," she said in the segment (per the Daily Mail). "My body was really, really big. But I wasn't happy. Sure on the surface, but at night in bed alone I was very unhappy." Calling it Adele's "time to lose weight" as part of "her journey," Osbourne added, "She must have felt you know what I am going to try and lose weight for wherever reason — health I am sure. She didn't do it for anybody else but herself. And so everybody should be happy for her."
Osbourne's brother David Arden previously claimed his sister has had so much plastic surgery that she's "unrecognizable" from the girl with whom he grew up, according to a 2013 Mirror report. More recently, Arden added (per the Mirror) that it's "not in [his] nature to shame anyone's appearance," but Osbourne "has shown it is one of her favourite pastimes." Arden said that when it comes to Osbourne's claim that he constantly tries to contact her, "It would be like me wanting to contact Hitler or Dracula." He also noted he thinks it's "time that anything emanating from her mouth should be flagged, Twitter-style."
But what's at the root of their feud?
Sharon Osbourne thinks her family's success 'eats away at' her estranged brother
According to the Mirror, talk show host Sharon Osbourne's brother tried to sabotage her relationship with husband Ozzy from the start. On the way back from their honeymoon, the couple visited Arden, at which point he allegedly said to Ozzy: "I can get this marriage annulled! I'll manage you,'" she recalled on The View. However, it wasn't until their father passed away that Osbourne and Arden had their major falling-out.
Osbourne, who paid for music manager Don Arden's funeral, wanted her Jewish father buried alongside his mother in Manchester, but her brother wanted him laid to rest next to his wife Hope in Surrey. "Yes, we did fight over the funeral," she explained (per the Mirror). "My father had an affair for 25 years with a woman in America but never divorced. And my brother wanted my father buried next to my mother in a non-Jewish graveyard and I said 'no.' The only thing my father loved was his religion."
She believes much of Arden's anger comes from his jealousy. "For any family it must be difficult when one sibling is far more successful. I understand that but I can't help it and I don't feel guilty," Osbourne said. "I think he looks at me and my family, all successful, and it eats away at him. It seems all he wants is our money. I want absolutely nothing to do with him." That feeling sure seems mutual.