Sharon Osbourne Undergoes Double Mastectomy

Sharon Osbourne has undergone a double mastectomy after learning that she carries a gene that increases the risk of breast cancer, The Associated Press reports.

The outgoing America’s Got Talent judge, 60, had colon cancer a decade ago, and she told the British gossip magazine Hello! that without the surgery, “the odds are not in my favor.” 

“I didn’t want to live the rest of my life with that shadow hanging over me,” she said. Osbourne added, “It’s not ‘pity me,’ it’s a decision I made that’s got rid of this weight that I was carrying around.”

Osbourne played a behind-the-scenes role managing the career of her husband, Ozzy Osbourne, before stepping into the public eye on the family’s reality show, The Osbournes, which ran on MTV from 2002-05. She was a judge on The X Factor in the U.K. from 2004-2007, and joined America’s Got Talent in 2007. She announced this summer that she didn’t plan to return to the show. She also co-hosts The Talk on CBS.