Fat a crime in LA, says Sharon Osborne

Reuters

SHARON OSBOURNE: ' If you're a drug addict people feel sorry for you, but if you're fat you're a criminal.'

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Sharon Osbourne believes people in Los Angeles think being fat is a criminal offence.

The reality TV star - who shed a substantial amount of weight after undergoing a gastric band operation nine years ago - plans to move from the star-studded area and return to Britain because she can't stand how they treat overweight people.

She said: "Los Angeles is not place to grow old. In England they encourage you to live individually. Here everyone wants to live the same. In Los Angeles it's a crime to be fat. If you're a drug addict people feel sorry for you, but if you're fat you're a criminal."

The 57-year-old star felt under pressure to have the weight-loss surgery because the local residents made her lose confidence in herself.

She said: "That and all the other surgery, darling. Living out here you get very self-conscious about body-image and ageing. I've battled my weight all my life. I got bigger to take up space and stand up to my dad. In the end I had to do something about my eating problem."

Sharon cites her father, music manager Don Arden - who died three years ago - as being one of the most influential people in her life.

She explained to the Guardian newspaper: "He always played hardball. Being around him made me into a strong woman, someone you f**k with at your peril.

"Thanks to him and thanks to my efforts, all my ambitions I have more than achieved. Everything I wanted to do I have done. He made me into a doer - someone with a strong work ethic, not a whiner. He made me what I am."

- Bang! Showbiz