“Sharon is walking away with a $5 to $10 million minimum payout and was able to spin that it was her decision [to leave the show],” a source told the outlet. A second insider additionally claimed that her departure agreement did not include any sort of gag order, so she is “free to speak out.”
“Sharon will talk when she is ready,” the source said. “She still wants to give her side of the story. She has been on that show for 11 years and knows all the secrets.”
News of Sharon’s reported payout comes days after CBS announced that she’d quit The Talk on Friday (March 26).
Two weeks prior to her departure, Sharon came under fire for her aggressive behavior and mistreatment of co-host Sheryl Underwood during a discussion about Sharon’s friend Piers Morgan, who quit his talk show in Britain following backlash for his comments about Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
“Sharon Osbourne has decided to leave The Talk,” CBS said in a statement. “The events of the March 10 broadcast were upsetting to everyone involved, including the audience watching at home.”
Shortly after the March 10 broadcast, an internal investigation was launched when host Elaine Welteroth and her hairstylist spoke out about an allegedly “racially insensitive and hostile environment” on The Talk.
Former The Talk co-host Leah Remini later claimed that Sharon used racist and homophobic slurs when talking about some of her co-hosts.
While Sharon issued an apology for her behavior on March 10, she called Leah’s claims “crap, all crap.”
“Everyone’s got an opinion or a story like the wonton story. It’s like f**k off with your f**king wonton story. F**k off,” she said in part during in an interview with the Daily Mail.