Getty ImagesNo one ever really doubted the so-called curse of reality TV.
We were legitimately heartbroken when Newlyweds' own Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey split back in 2005, but it only took a few seasons of The Bachelor for us to realize primetime showmances don't always last.
We weren't as quick, however, to discount the longevity of our reality TV parents' relationships. It really started with Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne back in 2002, when their MTV show gave us a look at their private family life with their then-teenage kids. Ozzy's biting-the-head-off-a-bat image was a distant memory—we saw him as Jack and Kelly's dad, an aging rocker trying not to piss off mama Sharon, who obviously called the shots back then.
Their parenting techniques were atypical, to say the least, and their luxurious lifestyle certainly wasn't the norm for most viewers. But beneath the fame and eccentricities was a loving family dealing with ups and downs like the rest of us. The Osbournes showed Sharon's battle with cancer, the aftermath of Ozzy's near-fatal ATV accident and the inevitable yet relatable hardships that no amount of fame or money could ever fix.
We laughed, cried and cringed right along with them, and although Ozzy and Sharon certainly bickered from time to time, we never questioned whether they'd make it. When The Osbournes first premiered, they'd been together over 20 years, their marriage having survived setbacks from addiction and infidelity. They'd been through it all, or so it seemed, and we just assumed theirs was a union that would stand the test of time...
Obviously, we were wrong. In 2013, Ozzy publicly apologized to Sharon for having relapsed for the past year and a half. "Everybody knows he's been struggling with this [substance abuse] his entire life, and I never knew that he was using prescription drugs," Sharon said on The Talk. "I knew he was drinking occasionally, but I didn't realize to the extent. It's our business—we're dealing with it; we're not getting divorced."
With Sharon's support, Ozzy returned to and maintained his sobriety. We breathed a sigh of relief—mom helped dad overcome his darkest demons (yet again). They hit a rough patch but walked away from it rock solid—at least, that's how us kids looked at it.
That's why it came as such a shock this past week when Ozzy and Sharon split after 33 years of marriage. This wasn't like 2013; Ozzy reassured fans that he was sober, calling reports claiming he'd relapsed "completely inaccurate." An insider reiterated to E! News that the Osbournes' split had nothing to do with his sobriety.
Sharon has declined to specify exactly what led the longtime loves to separate. When asked by her co-hosts on The Talk whether there was any chance of a reconciliation with Ozzy, Sharon replied somberly, "I honestly don't know."
"At this point I cannot answer that, because I don't know what I want," she continued. "I've got to follow my heart, and I don't even know what my heart is telling me right now. I'm just trying to take it all in, process it and do it calmly and in a timely fashion."
No one can be sure what's next for Ozzy and Sharon, but the possibility of them divorcing is somewhat jarring. They were, up until very recently, the one set of reality TV parents that remained.
Caitlyn Jenner and Kris Jenner, who we've watched keep the Keeping Up With the Kardashians family in line since their show premiered in 2007, separated in 2013 and moved forward with their divorce 11 months later. The exes, who were married for 22 years, remain close friends, but the singular, spousal unit we expected they'd always be no longer remains.
Kylie Jenner "didn't say anything" on camera when her parents announced their split, she told Cosmopolitan. "I went in my room and cried right after. If they're happy, I'm happy, I guess."
Brooke Hogan can seemingly relate—her parents, Hulk Hogan and Linda Hogan, divorced in 2007 after 25 years of marriage. Brooke didn't fault Hogan Knows Best, which aired from 2005 to 2007, for causing the rift in her mom and dad's relationship.
"I don't think a camera and a cameraman can destroy a family," she told Fox News in a 2008 interview. "I mean, they're not part of the family. But I think that it was the pressure of the cameras being there and the pressure of being on guard and not really being able to let your feelings fly, like if you are mad at somebody...I think it kind of suppressed it to the point where it almost let it explode, but I think that it would have come sooner or later."
Jon & Kate Plus's Kate Gosselin said something similar about the end of her marriage to Jon Gosselin. "A lot of people try to pin reality TV and say, 'My gosh. It ended in divorce. Big surprise,'" she told Katie Couric on her talk show Katie in 2012. "We went through a lot."
Kate and Jon separated in 2009, two years after a reality show documenting their home life of raising eight kids premiered on TLC. "I know the red flags were always there," she later reflected. "So looking back, had you never heard the names Jon and Kate Gosselin, I'm certain that I would be in that spot now."
Maybe, regardless of whether the cameras are rolling, love is just always a gamble.