It normally takes people a bit of time to get to the stage of wanting to strangle Piers Morgan.
But the Good Morning Britain presenter has revealed that Sharon Osbourne tried it the very first time they met!
Piers was appearing on today’s Loose Women, as a guest alongside X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne.
And the pair – both renowned for their controversial behaviour – were talking about when they first met, more than ten years ago.
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They had been selected to work together on Simon Cowell’s NBC talent show America’s Got Talent.
And it’s safe to say, their friendship didn’t get off to the best start…
“The first time I met Sharon I was a judge on America’s Got Talent and I get a call saying ‘look, we’re having a change of judges, Sharon Osbourne is joining the show’”, explained Piers.
“I thought ‘oh, that could be awkward’ as I’d written some not entirely complimentary things about Sharon.
“Anyway we meet for a dinner with NBC and all their executives, and Jerry Springer, who was going to be the new host – which was just as well given what happened.”
Sharon looked mortified, as Piers continued to tell the tale.
“Dinner went OK, Ozzy was there and we were getting on quite well, then I said something a little bit confrontational and then Sharon responded,” he added.
While neither of them could remember exactly what Piers had said to spark the situation, it had clearly wound Sharon up.
“What I do remember is the next thing, Sharon has run up behind me – and remember all the top executives are here – she runs up behind me – this is the night before filming’s due to start – and begins to strangle me to death!”
As the audience laughed and Sharon put her head on the table in shame, Piers added: “It wasn’t funny, she was literally throttling me, I was bent double, Ozzy was trying to pull her off.
“Eventually Jerry Springer of all people literally had to pull her off me and lead her out.”
Thank goodness for Jerry, who’d clearly had plenty of practice separating warring couples on his talk show over the years…
Piers revealed he went back to his hotel and took a sleeping pill, in the hope of getting over the trauma of what had happened and getting some sleep.
“I wake at three o’clock in the morning to my phone ringing incessantly,” he continued.
“And it’s ‘hello, is that Piers? It’s Ozzy here, I’ve got Sharon for you’ and she comes on and says ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to’.
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“So the next day we arrive on set and NBC have literally got 50 bodyguards to wrestle us apart and we’re like ‘hello darling!’ and they’re like ‘God these English, they’re nuts!’”
As the pair laughed together, Sharon added: “Yeah, they thought we were completely insane!”