Monday November 05, 2012 07:00 AM EST

Sharon Osbourne: I've Had a Double Mastectomy

by Simon Perry

Having successfully fought colon cancer a decade ago, then discovering she carried the gene that made her predisposed to having breast cancer, Sharon Osbourne says it was a "no brainer" to undergo a double mastectomy, she reveals in a new interview.

"As soon as I found out I had the breast cancer gene, I thought: 'The odds are not in my favor,' " The Talk co-host, who recently turned 60, tells the U.K.'s Hello! magazine, adding that she didn't want to live under the cloud of cancer.

"I decided to just take everything off," she reasoned. Osbourne underwent the 13-hour operation last summer, a family rep confirms to PEOPLE.



In the interview, Osbourne says her recent health problems began with a leaking breast implant.

"For me, it wasn't a big decision, she says. "I want to be around for a long time and be a grandmother to Pearl" – the 6-month-old daughter of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne's son, Jack Osbourne, and Jack's new bride Lisa (they married in Hawaii Oct. 7).

"It's not 'pity me,' " says Sharon, calling hers "a decision I made that's got rid of this weight that I was carrying around."