'X Factor USA' panelist Sharon Osbourne has lent her support to teen sensation Justin Bieber after the spell of bad press he has put up with recently.

While many have been quick to criticise the talented young heartthrob for his behaviour over the past few months, Osbourne told the Daily Beast that people forget he's just a 19-year-old "acting out" due to the pressures of fame:

"I feel really bad for him. There’s this little kid with a huge dream, he’s cute, girls love him, and he wants to be a mean boy, and he’s about as mean as a f**kin’ kitten, and he’s trying to act out."

She continued: "It’s like p**sing in a bucket. It’s like, “Oh, we’re the bad boys!” F**k off! You don’t know what bad is. And I think that he’s lost, I really do. I think he doesn’t realise he’s white and not black, that’s a huge problem."

"And, at the point he’s at in his career, it’s so dangerous because we’ve seen it all before a million times. Where do you go when you’re a child entertainer and then you want to transition to be a man? Very few make it."