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TV mum, manager and author Sharon Osbourne gives kids reality check

By April MacIntyre Feb 28, 2010, 17:25 GMT

US/UK TV personality Sharon Osbourne tells it like she sees it EPA/DANIEL DEME

No one can say that Sharon Osbourne doesn't shoot from the hip and tell it like it is.

She may have a reputation for eschewing tact and diplomacy, but the tough daughter of a legendary British music manager/agent has always had her priorities in check.

Those being her husband Ozzy, and her three children.

In a wonderful piece published by the Daily Mail, Sharon recalls interesting stories of her past, and her decades long climb to fame.

It is the very siren-like nature of fame that sets Sharon on a cautionary tale that urges children today to understand themselves better, accept limitations and honor the ordinary, everyday working trades and crafts.

Osbourne writes, "When I left school in the Sixties, children who weren't particularly academic or gifted knew that they had to have a trade. There was no disgrace in being a good plumber or mechanic - why do youngsters these days no longer consider these worthy careers? Better to be a great electrician than a dreadful singer, I would say."

Osbourne urges people, especially the young and impressionable, that nothing good comes from just expecting fame, but that hard work and talent combined was a recipe for success.

Sharon writes, "When Ozzy was starting out as a musician in Black Sabbath, for him and his contemporaries fame was simply a by-product of doing something they loved, not an end in itself. Of course, they wanted to be successful and to make money, but they certainly didn't expect it and that wasn't the reason they were in a band.

Today, though, young people regard fame as a birthright. They have a sense of entitlement the size of one of my houses."

Osbourne's path to fame has taken decades, and it was not until a reality TV show in 2002 that chronicled her family life, that set her, Ozzy and two of her three children on paths to even bigger celebrity.

It was recently made evident, even after some rough years where her daughter Kelly and her son Jack publicly struggled with drugs and weight issues, that Sharon's hard work as a mother had paid off so very handsomely.

Sharon was tearful sitting alongside Ozzy as they watched their graceful and well-spoken daughter Kelly shine on the last season of "Dancing with the Stars."

Their son Jack is still in Haiti helping with the rebuilding of the earthquake-ravaged country.

Sharon's success in preserving traditions with her family, despite the three-ring circus environment of rock n' roll and reality TV and all the trappings, is nothing short of admirable.

Osbourne says, "A lot of people confuse fame and infamy - two very different things. There is now a whole army of 'celebrities' who are notorious rather than famous."

Sharon Osbourne's latest novel, "Revenge" is published by Sphere, to be released on March 4.