Video: Former Fur-wearer Sharon Osbourne 'sickened' By Cruel Skins Trade

Star Reveals How Chinchillas Are Caged, Electrocuted and Skinned for Coats and Fur Trim

London – Back in her music-managing and The Osbournes days, Sharon Osbourne used to wear animal fur – but after learning how animals suffer and die for each fur coat, she swore off it for good. That's why the former X Factor judge was eager to team up with PETA US for a new video in which she speaks up for the smallest victims of the fur trade – chinchillas – and urges shoppers to leave fur on the racks and out of their closets.

In the video, Osbourne reveals how naturally social chinchillas are isolated in tiny, filthy cages before workers break their necks or electrocute them, leaving them conscious as they experience all the pain and agony of a full-blown heart attack. "A single chinchilla coat can contain the pelts of more than 150 animals", she emphasises. "Please do your part. Never buy our wear any fur or fur trim, and tell others why."

And in an exclusive video interview with PETA US, Osbourne reveals that watching video exposés like PETA's first inspired her to go fur-free. "I was educating myself through documentaries on what goes into actually making these fur coats and fur scarves that I was wearing, and when I realized how it was done, I was sickened", she says. "I was absolutely sickened by it."

Osbourne is part of a long list of celebrities – including her daughter Kelly Osbourne as well as P!nk, Wendy Williams, Olivia Munn, Penélope Cruz, Eva Mendes and Charlize Theron – who have teamed up with PETA US (whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to wear") to speak out against fur.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk