Sharon Osbourne’s ballet dancer mother was arrested for shoplifting at just 12-years-old

Sharon Osbourne has learnt that her mother was arrested at the age of 12, for shoplifting.

The former X Factor judge, 66, appears on the latest season of BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? and in researching her heritage has unearthed the scandal – which ended up with two nights behind bars.

Sharon’s mother – who was a ballet dancer named Hope Shaw, and who died in 1999 – was caught stealing in Brixton, London, in 1929.

Hope was caught in the act along with her own mother, Sharon’s grandmother, Dolly, having no choice but to steal for survival.

They pleaded guilty in front of magistrates after two nights in jail and the incident was reported in the local paper, for which Sharon was shown a clipping.

The news story revealed that 12-year-old Hope pleaded with police to ‘let mummy go’, saying: ‘I will take all the blame!’

In scenes from her episode, Sharon is moved by the research.

Scandal: Sharon’s mother – who was a ballet dancer named Hope Shaw, and who died in 1999 – was caught stealing in Brixton, London, in 1929

Looking at an old photograph of Hope and Dolly, Sharon said: ‘I feel a pain in my heart looking at my mum’s little face in this photo. She’s just a sweet innocent thing holding on to her mum really tight’

She says: ‘Oh my Lord. Unbelievable. Wow. They must have been pretty desperate to do that. Oh my God. That is just heartbreaking.

‘To have two kids, a husband gone, it must have been really hard. I wonder if they were stealing for Christmas gifts.’

She was also taken to the cells the women were held in.

‘You’d just be traumatised, wouldn’t you? Stuck in here as a little kid,’ she said of her mother’s experience.

Looking at an old photograph of Hope and Dolly, Sharon said: ‘I feel a pain in my heart looking at my mum’s little face in this photo. She’s just a sweet innocent thing holding on to her mum really tight.

Survivor: Sharon has been through her fair share of ups and downs, with career highs and lows, a battle with weight, her husband’s ill-health as well as a cheating scandal and a cancer battle [pictured with son Jack, husband Ozzy and daughter Kelly]

‘She must have had one hell of a childhood with no father, her mother was working. Growing up and not having the comfort of your parents. 

‘My heart really does break for her and it gives me a sense of why she was the way she was.’

Sharon and her mother had a fractious relationship and after she died, Sharon refused to attend the funeral.

The former music manager – who shares children Aimee, 35, Kelly, 34, and Jack, 33, with rock star husband Ozzy – also found out that her great-grandmother Annie also had a tough background.

‘All these women in the family suffered, all of them. My great-grandmother, my grandmother, my great-great grandmother suffered terribly. But they didn’t give up. And I don’t, really.’

Coming up: Sharon’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? is set to air on September 4 at 9PM on BBC One

Sharon has been through her fair share of ups and downs, with career highs and lows, a battle with weight, her husband’s ill-health as well as a cheating scandal, drink and drug problems among the famous family, and an unsuccessful suicide attempt by son Jack.

In addition, Sharon is a cancer survivor; she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2002 and it spread to her lymph nodes.

She underwent a double mastectomy in 2012 when she learnt that she had inherited a breast cancer gene from her family.

‘For me, it wasn’t a big decision, it was a no-brainer,’ she told Hello! at the time. ‘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.’

Sharon has three grandchildren via her son Jack: Pearl, seven, Andy, four, and Minnie, one. 

Sharon’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? is set to air on September 4 at 9PM on BBC One.