Jerry O’Connell opened up about his new position on The Talk and admitted that he was nervous taking over as co-host after Sharon Osbourne’s contentious exit. O’Connell was a guest on the Radio Andy show Revelations, and host Bevy Smith asked him about being a new addition to The Talk during such a time of transition, with the exits of Osbourne, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Elaine Welteroth and the addition of new co-host Akbar Gbajabiamila. “For you, were you at all concerned about coming into a space after there had been that kind of, uh, a blow-up or kerfuffle or drama?” Smith asked.
“Yeah, a little bit,” O’Connell admitted. “It’s funny, and I didn’t know the exact details of everything that happened. I remember reading that Sharon Osborne was no longer on The Talk, and then I was literally on there.” O’Connell also joked about being “the rebound guy” In more than one area of life, referencing meeting his wife Rebecca Romijn after her divorce.
“And I’ll tell you, being that rebound guy is fun. My wife would get depressed, and I’d be like, ‘What are you depressed about? Like, let’s have fun. Who cares?'” O’Connell said. “Coming in here right after Sharon Osbourne left, I could tell there was trauma with this group, you know, they were shaken, they were shooketh. And I came in, and I was like, ‘Hey guys, I don’t know anything about that. Like, let’s have a good time.’ And anytime it was even brought up, I was like, ‘Hey guys, guys, guys, that wasn’t me, please. Can we not talk about that today?'” O’Connell ended by quipping, “I get to be like the hot new boyfriend.”
Osbourne told the Daily Mail on Monday that she has struggled with the fallout of her controversial exit. In March, she left The Talk after she was accused of using racist, homophobic, and bullying language in her interactions with her former co-hosts. Piers Morgan’s remarks about Meghan Markle landed her in hot water.
“I definitely went through a difficult patch at the beginning,” Osbourne said to the outlet. “I found it embarrassing. The humiliation that people would think that I might be racist.” After receiving death threats, she continued by stating that Ozzy Osbourne and her husband hired security personnel who worked around the clock. According to her, she became anxious and sought ketamine therapy treatment at the suggestion of Sara Gilbert, her friend, and former cohost.
“I went through three months of therapy,” Osbourne said. “I had ketamine treatment, and I got it all out. All the tears and everything that I felt, you know. All of that, it’s gone.”
