Sharon Osbourne has revealed she has undergone a double mastectomy after learning she carries a gene which increases the risk of developing breast cancer.

“I’ve had cancer before and I didn’t want to live under that cloud: I decided to just take everything off,” Sharon Osbourne told Hello! magazine.

Sharon Osbourne, 60, was previously diagnosed with colon cancer in 2002.

The wife of rock star Ozzy Osbourne, she rose to fame on the reality show The Osbournes, and went on to join the judging panel of the UK version of The X Factor and, more recently, America’s Got Talent.

Sharon Osbourne quit the US show – produced by Simon Cowell – in September after a reported dispute with TV network NBC.

Sharon Osbourne has revealed she has undergone a double mastectomy

One of the current hosts of daytime show The Talk, she told Hello! magazine that she underwent 13 hours of surgery, and said: “The odds are not in my favor.”

“For me, it wasn’t a big decision, it was a no-brainer.”

“I didn’t want to live the rest of my life with that shadow hanging over me. I want to be around for a long time and be a grandmother to Pearl.

“I didn’t even think of my breasts in a nostalgic way, I just wanted to be able to live my life without that fear all the time.”

Earlier this year, Sharon Osbourne became a grandmother for the first time, after her son Jack and wife Lisa Stelly had a daughter, Pearl. Jack Osbourne, 26, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis earlier this year.

In 2004, in conjunction with Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Sharon Osbourne set up her own cancer foundation, to support people who are suffering from colon cancer but cannot afford healthcare.