With Sara Gilbert gearing up to leave The Talk later this year, the popular daytime talk show may have already found her replacement.
According to a TMZ exclusive, published on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, the ladies of the hit CBS series will reportedly be joined by none other than singer-actress Marie Osmond.
“Marie has signed on for the gig and the big announcement will go down live on The Talk this coming Tuesday,” claimed sources cited by the gossip rag. However, it sounds like not all of the show’s on-air talent — which includes Carrie Ann Inaba, Sharon Osbourne, Eve, and Sheryl Underwood — is exactly thrilled about the alleged news, as some reportedly “feel a better replacement for Sara would have been someone younger and edgier … not the 59-year-old singer.” Yikes. However, the insider added, “But, the bosses laid down the law, and Marie is a go.”
It should be noted that, at the time of this writing, Gilbert, Osmond, and CBS have yet to publicly comment on this report.
Getty ImagesAs Nicki Swift previously reported, Gilbert, 44, announced in an early April 2019 episode that she would be leaving The Talk at the end of its ninth season. While playing double duty as host and executive producer since launching the show in 2010, Gilbert has earned two Daytime Emmy Awards for her acclaimed work. However, with the unprecedented success of her Roseanne spin-off The Conners — on which she’s also starred and executive produced since 2018 — the multi-talent began to yearn for a better work-life balance.
“This is hard to do and something that I have been struggling with for a while and going back and forth,” Gilbert tearfully told her longtime co-hosts and audience at the time (via People). “But I’ve decided that it’s time for me to leave the show at the end of this season. I obviously love it here and like I said, this was extremely difficult.”
Gilbert, whose final appearance on the show will air on Aug. 2 of this year, went on to say, “If I’m being honest about it, I think my life was slightly out of balance and I wasn’t able to spend as much time with my three kids as I’d like, and time for myself.” In addition to 4-year-old son Rhodes, whom she shares with wife Linda Perry, the multi-hyphenate is also mom to 14-year-old son Levi and 11-year-old daughter Sawyer from a previous marriage. “I love the hosts, I love the crew, I love our staff, [and] I am so grateful to the audience for letting me in your homes every day. It’s been such an honor.”
YouTubeIf the rumors prove to be true, Osmond will clearly have some big shoes to fill at The Talk. But despite the other panelists’ supposed reservations about Osmond serving as Gilbert’s successor, she may just be the perfect fit. Those readers who are fans of the talk show may remember that she previously guest-hosted an episode in late March 2019. According to an insider cited in TMZ‘s latest report, “When she was on the ratings spiked.”
For the higher ups at CBS, then, her rumored appointment would be a no-brainer. However, similarly to Gilbert, it looks like Osmond would be juggling a number of gigs at the start of her alleged tenure at The Talk — or, at least until November 2019, that is. She and famous brother Donny Osmond, with whom she co-hosted a talk show of her own in the late ’90s (via TMZ), announced in March that their 11-year Las Vegas residency at the Flamingo Hotel will come to an end this fall.
“It’s been rumored that we’re bringing Donny & Marie to an end here in Las Vegas. And we’re here to say it’s official,” Donny Osmond said during their joint appearance on Good Morning America. “We have been through so much the last 11 years. Her particularly. And she gets onstage and she’s such a professional and she does a great job. I’m gonna miss this a lot … There’s a bond here that will never be broken.”
Getty ImagesFor her part, Marie Osmond later wrote to her Instagram followers, “The other night I turned to Donny as we took our spots for the opening of the show and said: ‘Hey D, let’s just have fun with every show as we count down to the last one… let’s enjoy every moment.'” She added, “Saying good bye is never easy, but as Donny said ‘It’s the end of The Donny & Marie Show, it’s not the end of Donny and Marie.”‘
Sara Gilbert’s upcoming departure and Marie Osmond’s reported anticipated arrival will be just the latest shakeup at The Talk in recent months. Just last fall, fellow original moderator Julie Chen decided to leave the show amid husband Les Moonves’ sexual misconduct scandal — which led to his own disgraced departure as the former CEO of CBS. According to CNN, Chen was later replaced by Dancing with the Stars‘ Carrie Ann Inaba. Given Osmond’s decades’ long experience in showbiz, pop cultural clout, and previous appearance on The Talk, we’re sure she’d also fit in just fine.
