Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Ozzy Osbourne’s Hairdresser Sues His Daughter Kelly

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Ozzy Osbourne's former hairstylist and mistress sued his daughter Kelly on Wednesday, claiming she "slut-shamed, bullied and harassed" her and falsely accused her of elder abuse.

Michelle Pugh says she and Ozzy Osbourne started a professional and platonic relationship when she became his hairstylist in September 2011. By October 2012, Osbourne began making advances, the two "maintained a consensual secretive romantic relationship," and he moved into her home this May, according to the complaint in Superior Court.

Pugh says she stopped seeing Osbourne as a client when the relationship became romantic, and he was not suffering from diminished mental capacity when he moved in with her, despite tabloid stories that he'd relapsed into drug and alcohol abuse.

She says she did not seek or accept any financial support from Osbourne, but they watched a TV tabloid report in May that exposed their relationship, which it "mistakenly characterized as a short-term fling."

On May 23, Pugh says, Kelly Osbourne incited a "rash of mass cyber-bullying" by posting a Twitter message to her 4.07 million followers that said "Anyone looking for cheap chunky LOW-lights a blow out and a blowjob call +1 (323)9282323."

The phone number was Pugh's private, unlisted phone number, and at least 1,500 people on Twitter resent Kelly Osbourne's post, while another 3,800 indicated they liked the comment, according to the complaint.

Pugh says Kelly Osbourne defamed her by accusing her of elder abuse and other bad behavior in subsequent conversations with other Twitter members.

Not only had she "begun to be slut-shamed, bullied and harassed for allegedly breaking up a marriage," Pugh says, Kelly Osbourne accused her of a crime, tweeting to one follower: "my father is almost 70 ever heard of elder abuse?"

Pugh says Kelly Osbourne inflicted "ridicule, hate and shame" upon her, and 4.07 million of Kelly Osbourne's Twitter followers "were given the opportunity to communicate this hate and harassment" directly to Pugh's private phone.

Twitter blocked Kelly Osbourne's account until she deleted the offending post, Pugh says, but the damage had been done, and subsequent posts from Kelly Osbourne's followers referred to her as a "slut," "bitch," "skank," "publicity whore," and other offensive terms.

Pugh says screen shots of Kelly Osbourne's phone number tweet remain available online, and at least one person staged a call to her, which the caller recorded on video and posted on YouTube.

Pugh says she had to get a new phone and "actively dispel false rumors of termination from her salon due to her relationship with Ozzy."

She seeks punitive damages for defamation, public disclosure of private facts and emotional distress.

Kelly Osbourne's publicist, Marcel Pariseau, was not immediately available by telephone Wednesday night.

Attorney F. Edie Mermelstein filed the complaint on Pugh's behalf Wednesday and was not immediately available by telephone Wednesday night.

Ozzy Osbourne, 68, rose to fame as lead singer of Black Sabbath, a pioneer of hard rock and heavy metal music. He began a solo career in 1979, and is noted for helping to make deceased guitarist Randy Rhoads one of the most highly regarded musicians in rock history.

With Black Sabbath and as a solo artist, Ozzy Osbourne has sold more than 100 million albums.

Ozzy Osbourne also has starred in several reality TV programs, one of which launched Kelly Osbourne's career.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...