Sharon Osbourne and Julie Chen Stop By

Photo: The Howard Stern Show

Sharon Osbourne and Julie Chen came in ahead of their new season of “The Talk” to sit down with Howard and catch up on what’s been going on in the last couple of months. Take a look at some highlights from their interview (below).

The View vs. The Talk

Howard wanted to know why it is that “The Talk” is beating “The View” in the ratings even though many people originally saw no future for Sharon and Julie’s daytime talk show. Chen said the reason they surged ahead was that they took the best aspects of the show and left out what people seem to dislike about their competitors.

“We don’t want to be an explosion of noise,” she told Howard. Furthermore, they vowed to actually like each other as well as to avoid discussing politics for the most part. The results, it would seem, are in the ratings.

Sharon’s Nervous Breakdown

While Julie chided Howard for asking about the circumstances around Sharon’s month-long hiatus from the show, Osbourne admitted that it was indeed due to a nervous breakdown she suffered. “I can’t tell you all the details, but yeah I did,” she revealed when asked if she had one.

News outlets reported at the time that it was due to exhaustion, but Sharon said it was in fact more, though she simply attributed it to “life.”

She explained that it happened as she was negotiating a Black Sabbath tour with Live Nation where everyone just wanted different things, which made it incredibly difficult.

Thankfully, Sharon is now doing well – thanks in part, she said, to Howard’s longtime recommendation of transcendental meditation, which she initially laughed out all of the years.

Shit In A Box

On the flip side, Sharon had a laugh remembering a tactic she used to wield against anyone in the press who lied about her or the Osbourne family: She’d have Jack, who was four or five years old at the time, shit in a box and send the box to the offending member of the media.

Sharon said she accepted press that was good, bad, or indifferent … but never lies. No one ever responded to her packages, even though she owned up to it.

“Hey, I’m a big girl, I f-cking send you shit, I own it.”

Ozzy Osbourne vs. Les Moonves

Both Julie and Sharon’s husbands – rock legend Ozzy Osbourne and CBS President/CEO Les Moonves – apparently told their wives to quit talking about their sex lives with Howard, but of course that didn’t happen.

Howard though did wonder what else the two husbands had in common, so he posed a few questions to them:

What does your husband do to unwind?

Les: Vodka Rocks

Ozzy: His Artwork

What is your husband’s worst habit?

Ozzy: His hair gets in his food when he eats

Les: Everything he does is perfect

Would he make you breakfast?

Ozzy: He’ll make breakfast and write a note on a tray and bring it to bed

Les: Doesn’t know where the kitchen is

Julie said though that the real similarity she sees is in instances where some young, good-looking men come to talk to them. Both ladies know their husbands would be a little jealous, so they don’t engage.

Photo: The Howard Stern Show