I’m someone who’s always said what’s on her mind – then it’s gone. But other people won’t let it go. They don’t like confrontation and they don’t like it when I challenge a situation.
I’m a magnet for drama. I think it’s because I’m a bit eccentric – it must follow me around. Sure, I have regrets. That’s a part of life and growing. I often think, “If I could only do that again”, but you can’t. All you can do is try to make sure you don’t do whatever it was another time.
I was a judge on X Factor for years, but I’d never do a talent show again. It’s not right to put kids through that pressure. That’s particularly true of reality-based shows. Young people aren’t mentally prepared for what’s going to happen to them. When they fall by the wayside, they get brushed aside.
I have never been the target of predatory males. I used to think: what’s wrong with me? Why does no man ever try it on with me? The answer is that they were afraid. I can take care of myself. Throughout the 60s and 70s, nobody laid a finger on me.
We are moving back to the UK this year. We’ll live in our house in Buckinghamshire. America is changing. It’s becoming more scary. The UK isn’t immune to that. Everywhere feels jittery right now but the UK perhaps less so.
Ozzy’s a little anxious about the distance between him in the UK and the kids and the grandchildren in LA. But, once he gets here and feels the love there is for him, he’ll find that very healing. He damaged his spine when he fell on a tiled bathroom floor five years ago – it led to five major surgeries. It also acted as a trigger for his Parkinson’s to go into overdrive.
I’m shaping up fine. I’ve finally become more accepting of my body, my looks. I’m through with the weight loss and all that cosmetic stuff. I was injecting myself with Ozempic and I lost three stone in four months. Too much. I now weigh seven stone and can’t put on weight. Ozzy says I look like Nancy Reagan.
Ozzy has gone through terrible depressions. And when you’re not in a good state of mind, it’s hard for the body to heal. I’ve had to become his cheerleader. That’s something I hadn’t planned at this stage of my life. It’s not been easy watching your husband go through such agony physically.
I take after my father [music manager Don Arden]. People always imagine he and I fell out because he thought Ozzy wasn’t good enough for me. It was because, if I married him, I’d take money away from Dad. My father didn’t speak to me for 20 years. But we went full circle and I took care of him at the end when he was suffering from Alzheimer’s and had lost all his money.
Am I happy? No. I worry too much – about Ozzy, the kids, the grandkids. At the end of the day, I’m a Jewish mother. I’ve lived a lot of life in my 71 years – there are a lot of stories. Plenty of ups and downs, good luck and bad, too. It’s not all been wine and roses.
