Thank you Ozzy

“What a loving, dysfunctional, chaotic, musical family they were. And it just hit us to keep shooting, which went on for years.” -Van Toffler, MTV

I read an article this week in Variety about Ozzy Osbourne and his family. It discussed how they really shaped reality television by creating the docuseries genre. The Osbourne’s premiered in 2002, before that time it was unheard of for celebrities to allow a camera crew to shadow them at home. It all started when Ozzy and Sharon agreed to one episode of MTV Cribs. Van Toffler recalls, “We were looking to launch ‘Cribs,’ and we shot a bit with the Osbournes, and we all kind of looked at each other and just felt there is some wonderful, serendipitous chaos and insanity in this house that people would eat up. What a loving, dysfunctional, chaotic, musical family they were. And it just hit us to keep shooting, which went on for years.”

For the first time we saw The Prince of Darkness as a father and a husband not just an iconic metal rockstar. Everything about him was brilliantly hilarious from his Brummie accent to his shuffled movements. Throw in teenage kids, dogs, juggling life with a tour schedule and you had the receipt for a great show. “It was so wrong, but unlike anything else that was on TV,” said former MTV topper Van Toffler. The show was a hit for attracting as much as 8 million viewers in one airing. (For reference, Southern Charm topped out at about 1.8 million viewers when I was on the show. SC Season 9 had a record breaking year at 2.1 Million. Basically, back in 2002 anyone with cable was watching Ozzy and didn’t have all the steaming options there are now.)

Sharon, whose father was a famous manager and how she met Ozzy, negotiated the biggest deal on record at the time getting the family $20 Million for two more seasons. The network was now heavily invested and used this template for success to create other hits. One of those being Laguna Beach, which went on to create The Hills. I was just a lowly assistant when the camera’s started rolling in our office.

Brent Bolthouse back then was the King of nightlife in Los Angeles. My boss Sam Nazarian had hired him to run the door and get the celebs into all the venues that we had designed and developed. It was completely by accident that I was there with Brent the day they filmed Heidi’s arrival and eventual hire. I worked mostly on the design team and had little to do with the actual running of the clubs. There was no instagram in those days or smart phones and my little cameo on MTV was seen around the world.

This freeze frame makes me laugh so hard. The head set, the resting b face, a pimple - classic all around haha

I always felt bad about my screen time. My first summer in Los Angeles I lived with my best friend since middle school and stayed on her sofa. She was out there trying to become an actress. We got a bigger apartment in the Fall when I started my job at SBE in the design department. I was Philippe Starck’s direct assistant and helped keep everything in order from the Paris office for the design and build outs in Los Angeles. My dream job! I felt so good going to work everyday and knew I was learning from the best. I worked a ton in those days, not only in the studio but also in the evenings taking out potential investors. I would tour them around all of our venues and make sure they had fun and eventually wanted to invest in our next deals. It was during one of those evenings that my appearance on The Hills aired. When I got home late late that night I noticed our voicemail was full and started to hear everyone from high school calling and freaking out that they had seen me on TV. That was my friends’ dream not mine and it broke my heart that I was in the limelight and not her. I would have given anything to give her the screen time. When offered a bigger role on The Hills I declined as it had already caused enough drama in my life. I was raised to keep a low profile and being on TV as myself went against everything I knew. The next time the opportunity came around I said yes and am so thankful for my time on Southern Charm. That felt real to me. Being home with my friends after a very messy divorce. Those first years of filming were so much fun but like all good things must come to an end. The show was always supposed to be about the boys and I no longer felt comfortable with some of the storylines and went to hide in Malibu.

Looking back now I know I have Ozzy and Sharon to thank for my little bit of success in the reality arena. I got to spend time with Jack and Kelly too through Brent Bolthouse. I know the show was not always easy on them either. Both struggled with drugs and body image and I’m so happy to see they came out whole on the other side. Like them I was very close to my father. While mine was not a rockstar Ozzy’s struggles with technology were relatable to any teen with baby boomer parents. I showed a few episodes to my Dad and at first I think he wanted to hate it but sort of fell for Ozzy too. They were our exact level of disfunction - function. Struggles with drugs and alcohol wasn't just in our family but in others too and for the first time I felt like that was being publicly addressed and helped me feel like I didn’t have to carry the secrets alone.

I have loved reading all the stories about John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne this past week. I even watched the first episode of the Osbourne’s. Still funny to me that the Prince of Darkness showed his softer side and TV was forever changed. Thank you.

And here’s a follow up photo of Heidi and I this past Christmas. A little blurry as we were chasing her kids. So thankful for all these crazy experiences that created lifelong friendships.