Ozzy Osbourne: 'Pay women the same as men'

Ozzy Osbourne is all for gender equality when it comes to the pay cheques women and men receive.

Stars like Jennifer Lawrence and Patricia Arquette are on a mission to stop the disparity between the pay in Hollywood, but it's not just the movie industry where this is an issue. Ozzy has lent his voice to the fight, though wife Sharon says the music world has come on leaps and bounds in terms of opportunities for ladies.

"If a woman can do what a man can do, why should she be paid any less?" Ozzy asked Hungertv.com. "A woman doing the same job as a guy should get the same money as a guy. I feel very strongly about that."

"It's a whole new world out there for women in the music industry, thank God!" Sharon added. "But as far as the TV industry is concerned, it's still way, way back in the dark ages. Men get paid more than women, and I just don't think it's fair."

Sharon started out in music over 35 years ago, becoming Ozzy's manager in 1979 after he was fired from Black Sabbath, who were managed by her father Don. It was an uphill struggle to be recognised for her management skills, with plenty of people along the way questioning why Ozzy had hired a woman.

"I remember one day the head of a record company said to Sharon, 'Why don't you just f**k off, go home, have babies, and clean the house?'" Ozzy recalled. "That's what she had to deal with. They couldn't negotiate with women back then. People freaked out when they saw that my manager was a woman, let alone my wife! It was really bad, you know."

"But not only in America," Sharon added. "In Japan it was terrible, and in certain parts of Europe... it was just awful. Japan was horribly hard to deal with."