Sharon Osbourne's school regret

Apr 10, 2010, 6:00 GMT

Sharon Osbourne wishes she had tried harder in school.

The TV personality - who has children Aimee, Kelly and Jack with husband Ozzy Osbourne - admits there are things she would like to change in her life, particularly her lack of academic knowledge.

She said: "If I could go back in time, I'd tell myself to stay at school, keep your mouth shut and learn. And save all your money."

Sharon - who had a gastric band fitted in 1999 to help her lose weight - also revealed she developed her loud persona as a way to defend herself from jibes about her size, resulting in people thinking she was a "b***h".

She told Good Housekeeping magazine: "The biggest misconception about me is that I'm a b***h. When I started in this business, as a woman sometimes you had to put on a facade to gain respect from your male peers.

"At the time I was also terribly overweight so I often came across as brash, which was actually a shield. You know how the people who are the funniest or the loudest are often the biggest? That was me. But it was all to protect myself. When I was overweight no one wanted to help me, but when I was thinner, everyone did."