This is a partial transcript from On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, April 9, 2002. Click here to order the entire transcript of the show.
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GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Now for my interview with heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne and his wife, Sharon. A reality show based on their family is one of the hottest shows on television. What's even more surprising, many of the millions tuning in each week weren't even born when Ozzy was making those things us older folks called records. And while Ozzy is no stranger to the spotlight, what is it like to have cameras following Ozzy at home 24/7?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OZZY OSBOURNE, ROCK STAR: When you have camera crews in your house all the time, you have — you do have your off days, you know? And the restricted areas were the bedroom. And sometimes I forget as soon as I open those doors that I'd be on. I would get kind of quick-tempered, you know, or surprised, forgetting they were there. And I would go, "Not now, guys," you know, and...
VAN SUSTEREN: How do you describe, Sharon, your family? I mean, we're all watching your family now. How would you describe it?
SHARON OSBOURNE, WIFE AND MANAGER OF OZZY OSBOURNE: For me, in my life, I think that we're just normal because it's all that we know. I think that we're...
O. OSBOURNE: Crazy?
S. OSBOURNE: That goes without saying. I mean, that just goes with it.
O. OSBOURNE: Eccentric.
S. OSBOURNE: Eccentric. But I think that we're amazingly close, and I think that comes out.
O. OSBOURNE: There's an awful lot of love in our family, I mean, both with the humans and creatures, you know, and...
VAN SUSTEREN: You obviously have a close family. Let's back up for a second. Where did you guys meet?
O. OSBOURNE: Where did we meet?
S. OSBOURNE: We met in my father's office...
O. OSBOURNE: ... office the first time...
S. OSBOURNE: ... in 1970.
O. OSBOURNE: But then she wrote me in 19...
(LAUGHTER)
VAN SUSTEREN: Were you interested in him, Sharon, when you met him?
S. OSBOURNE: He frightened me. I was nervous, but I thought he was cute. I did think he was very cute.
VAN SUSTEREN: What was it that was so cute about him?
S. OSBOURNE: Look at him. He's like — he's like a teddy bear. And he was kind of like, young, and, like, wide-eyed.
O. OSBOURNE: Seducible.
(LAUGHTER)
VAN SUSTEREN: And Ozzy, did you notice her?
O. OSBOURNE: Well, one thing about my wife, what always attracted me to her, she always has — she's got this incredible laugh. She's got a laugh that when she starts — you think the world's laughing. She's got such a big, happy laugh. It just attracted me to her. She laughs like a banshee, but, you know...
S. OSBOURNE: See, other men would say, "She has the best pair of legs." Or, you know, "She's got the best bum."
O. OSBOURNE: Or, "She was a great cook."
S. OSBOURNE: He likes my laugh!
(LAUGHTER)
VAN SUSTEREN: And your family — three children, right?
S. OSBOURNE: Yes.
O. OSBOURNE: Three of the greatest children on the face of the earth.
VAN SUSTEREN: What makes them so great, Ozzy?
O. OSBOURNE: It's so wonderful to see Kelly and Jack working together, arguing together and making friends together and sticking up for each other, you know?
VAN SUSTEREN: And I mean...
O. OSBOURNE: They protect each other.
VAN SUSTEREN: I mean, it's sort of unusual. I mean, they're growing up in an unusual home. Mother's managing the father's career and a successful...
O. OSBOURNE: I mean — I mean, they're going to make this — they're going to drink before they're 21. They're going to try different things. They're going to do all the things…
S. OSBOURNE: Well, they're kids. Everybody does.
O. OSBOURNE: It's so — it's like — and plus the fact, people recognize them from being on TV now.
VAN SUSTEREN: Are you disciplinarians, or do you have a loose household?
O. OSBOURNE: We're disciplinarians to the point that we don't, like to say, "Look, you, you cannot do this!" You know, if it's something I feel very strongly about and they keep on doing it, then I will use that kind of approach.
S. OSBOURNE: But I think that the pair of us have never really spoken down to the kids, like they're kids. We talk to them like they're adults.
O. OSBOURNE: They're young adults. We've always — I mean, we've never been the koochy-koochy-kooch kind of family. I mean, the kid — we have a lot of fun with our children, an awful lot of fun. And I hope it — I know it's going to continue.
VAN SUSTEREN: You have three children. Two are on the MTV show. And one's opted out, the oldest of the three.
S. OSBOURNE: Yeah.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why did she opt out?
O. OSBOURNE: Well, you know, she doesn't agree with people coming into her personal life. Her life is her life, whereas the other two children were into it. She was — she's 18. She has a mind of her own. She didn't agree with the fact of cameras into her very intimate secrets. And she's — she's — she's — she just — she's got a terrific singing voice. And she's a difference kind of a child to the other kids. Everybody's — everybody's is going, like, "What's — what's — what's wrong with the other daughter?" It's not that what's wrong with the other daughter. She's the smart one out of the lot of us because she — she — she can walk down the street without anybody jumping on her, you know.
VAN SUSTEREN: What do you think, though, Sharon? I mean, it's unbelievable how much people love watching this show. I mean, Ozzy talked about the ratings. He doesn't pay attention. But the truth is, everybody's watching.
S. OSBOURNE: I...
O. OSBOURNE: I don't...
S. OSBOURNE: Do you know what...
O. OSBOURNE: Greta, that's just — that's the $6 million question. I go, "What's the — what is it?" I don't understand any of it because it's me and my family. As Sharon said it's like us going on holiday and filming us on Malibu — Malibu Beach, you know.
S. OSBOURNE: It's just — yeah, it is. It's like, you know, our home — our home movie. I think — you know what I think? Because it's truthful and we're not pretending to be something that we're not. We're truthful with it.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, do you think — is your family different from other rock-and-roll families?
O. OSBOURNE: I don't know because I don't — I've never lived with another rock-and-roll family.
S. OSBOURNE: I think we are.
VAN SUSTEREN: You think you are? Why?
S. OSBOURNE: Because, kind of...
VAN SUSTEREN: Your marriage has lasted a long time, for one thing.
S. OSBOURNE: A long time.
VAN SUSTEREN: I mean, that's extraordinary in the — statistically among rock-and-roll.
S. OSBOURNE: I think that a lot of people in this industry live a cliche rock-and-roll lifestyle, where they have — you know, I call them "Versace rockers," you know, and you've got the perfect kids that become models or famous actresses, and you've got the perfect wife and the perfect husband that would never admit that they're addicted to anything, that would never admit that any of them are oversexed or whatever. They live a professional life, and then they have their private life. And we just are what we are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAN SUSTEREN: And indeed, they certainly are. A special thanks to the Osbournes for inviting us into their home. It was a lot of fun.
Click here to order the entire transcript of the April 9, 2002 edition of On the Record.
Content and Programming Copyright 2002 Fox News Network, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2002 eMediaMillWorks, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, Inc.'s and eMediaMillWorks, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.
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