As Sharon Osbourne leaves Ozzy behind, Janet Street-Porter says a wife should never trust the words: 'I promise I'll change'
When men say sorry, do they ever really mean it? Actions speak louder than words, so when I read Ozzy Osbourne had fallen off the wagon and long-suffering Sharon, his wife of 31 years, had moved out, I felt very sorry for her.
No matter how irritating and demanding your partner is, it takes a hell of a lot to make a proud woman leave the family home and stay in a hotel rather than put up with her bloke one more day. Sharon has now moved into another house and Ozzy has gone off on tour.
First, though, he posted a humiliating apology on Facebook — a very public place to air your personal woes, but that’s showbiz folk.
Tough: Like Alex Best before her, Sharon Osbourne has found it hard to cope with Ozzy's addictionsOzzy wrote: 'For the last year and a half I have been drinking and taking drugs. I was in a very dark place and was a ****** to the people I love most, my family.
'I am happy to say I am now 44 days sober. I would like to apologise to Sharon, my family and friends. Sharon and I are not getting divorced.' A big apology — but will it save his marriage?
Addicts need understanding and compassion, but they are bullies, liars, cheats and devious individuals. Cornered, they will say anything. They go to rehab only because there’s no option; there’s nowhere lower they can fall.
I know from personal experience. Sharon will be feeling exhausted and completely drained — there’s no other way to describe it.
You feel utterly alone, because the person you love and have devoted yourself to constantly denies anything is wrong and claims you’re weird, not them.
You get told you don’t understand how they need to express themselves, that you are boring and judgmental. No wonder Sharon is reported to have said: 'Six weeks of being good isn’t going to make 18 months of hell go away.'
Divorce: Sheryl Gascoigne found husband Paul's alcoholism too much to handle and the pair divorced in 1998More from Janet Street Porter... JANET STREET-PORTER: I despise the nanny state - but it's the only cure for Fat Slob UK 02/06/13 Wrinklies, rise up! Attacked for stealing the young's jobs and patronised by politicians. We oldies, says JANET STREET-PORTER, unveiling her Grey Power Manifesto, need to fight back... 31/05/13 JANET STREET-PORTER: Watch out... soon GPs will ban patients altogether! 27/05/13 Janet Street-Porter: 'Experts say I'm common but I'm just not bovvered! It hasn't held back David Beckham or Adele' 19/05/13 'Yes, I'm a Nimby. And proud of it!': JANET STREET-PORTER cheers on the Not In My Backyard brigade and snubs wind farms 13/05/13 Janet Street-Poter: We'll all have to cough up for Dave's betrayal on booze 'n' fags 05/05/13 How many of us ever thank those who shaped our lives? In these witty yet surprisingly tender letters, JANET STREET PORTER says: Thank you for making me the nation's favourite big mouth 03/05/13 JANET STREET-PORTER: Hand back our bus passes and TV licences?! You must be joking, Iain Duncan Smith 28/04/13 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE
Why forgive and forget when the same thing has happened over and over again? How many times has Ozzy been to rehab?
Now he’s cleaned up to start a month-long Black Sabbath reunion tour of New Zealand, Australia and New Zealand, followed by gigs in America and Europe — hardly an easy environment to pursue the sober life.
Sharon is reputed to be on the point of signing a £2 million contract to return to The X Factor this summer — a job she will be brilliant at and which will restore her self-confidence no end.
Addicts always have a reason why they slip — Ozzy claims it was when a bandmate was diagnosed with cancer. Last week, he said: 'It’s all part of a journey. I’ve done a lot of stupid things, but you learn by your mistakes.'
The point is, his wife didn’t make the mistake, but she will have been the person on the front line, dealing with his various 'journeys'.
Obviously, it’s easier for rich people to live in separate mansions, return to rehab regularly and resume their lucrative careers. For most people, living with an addict blights their life in a slow, destructive way, no matter how many times that person says sorry.
You are abused so subtly you start not even to notice. Mind you, living with anyone is highly demanding and — in my experience — a rollercoaster of disputes and misunderstandings when strong personalities are involved.
If I saw my partner every evening I think I would attack him within a week, he’s so annoying. All my girlfriends spend at least half their time avoiding their other halves — it’s the only way to stay sane. Nowadays, it doesn’t matter whether you’re married or just living together, almost half of all relationships will hit the rocks.
Maybe we should start thinking of new ways to make them work better. Tomorrow, Living Apart Together (LAT) is published, a report investigating a growing social trend — the one in ten couples who choose to live separately in the UK, mirrored in Europe, America and Australia.
A third of these couples do so by choice and one in five out of necessity — for financial reasons or lack of space. Many say their relationship has flourished as a result.
It allows one person to work (often in cities where most jobs are) and live alone during the week, for example, and then the family gets together somewhere else for quality time at weekend.
Researchers think that the number of LATs will increase as women earn more and want to remain independent — it sounds like a very good idea to me.
In the meantime, I wish Ozzy a sober future and recommend he refrains from airing any more apologies on Facebook.
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Enough! Janet is fed up with watching ugly people have sex on TVSORRY, BUT UGLY SWEDISH PEOPLE HAVING SEX IS A TV TURN-OFF
The new Saturday night Swedish thriller on BBC 4, Arne Dahl, proves no match for our home-grown tribute to Baltic drama, Broadchurch, which culminates on ITV this evening.
Broadchurch, starring David Tennant and with Pauline Quirke bravely playing a highly unsympathetic suspect, copies the in-depth characterisation of The Killing, with its slow pace and sense of location and I’ve become addicted.
Arne Dahl’s stories, about a bunch of mismatched detectives solving serial killings, are extremely violent, and last Saturday’s episodes contained more scenes of ugly people having sex than I can face in one evening.
The first story, The Blinded Man, gave me nightmares after it showed a gang crucifying a detective. In the latest saga, a mass killer is using horrible pliers to torture his victims. Too graphic for me, and I suspect for quite a few other female viewers.
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BEAUTIFUL, YES, BUT ANNA'S TRULY BONKERSHealth warnings ought to be attached to any interview given by bonkers actress Anna Friel.
Tasked with promoting her latest film The Look Of Love, in which she plays Soho sex Baron Paul Raymond’s wife Jean, Anna has been sharing her 'beauty' secrets.
She told Grazia magazine she shuns food and drinks up to 12 cups a day of her 'Master Cleanse' detox beverage, an unappetising brew of lemon juice, cayenne pepper, maple syrup and water.
'I’ve been on it for two months,' she proudly announces. 'I’ve got to do everything I can to save my skin.'
Ironically, as Jean, she has to age from 21 to 58 — and reveals she 'felt sick' when she found one or two grey hairs recently.
Yet by any standards this 36-year-old is beautiful and tiny — a dress size six. To stave off ageing, Anna pays for vampire facials in which blood from her arms is injected into her face, and, before a red carpet event, she splashes out on Cryoderm treatments, that involve heating up the skin and then freezing it, allegedly to stimulate collagen growth.
At home she plunges her face into bowls of ice cubes for a minute at a time. She told the Sunday Times: 'I’ve always worked very hard, I don’t know what to do with myself when I’m not.'
How about trying some counselling to try to gain a sense of proportion about life?
**One woman who does seem to have a well-balanced outlook on life is Paul Raymond’s glamorous former girlfriend, Fiona Richmond.
She looks amazing for 68, but is sad the new film about him contains so much 'dross', showing her in scenes that never took place.
Vicar’s daughter Fiona says she didn’t have ‘any problem’ taking her clothes off, turned down Raymond’s proposal of marriage and dumped him when she couldn’t face any more late nights.
He came to her wedding (she later divorced) and now she is happily running a small hotel in Grenada, living a 'normal' life with a long-term partner.
Fiona exudes positivity, while Miss Friel seems unable to cope with the notion of a single wrinkle.
