‘Sharon saved me every day' How Ozzy's wife's devotion never wavered through years of drug addiction hell

The Sun

4 days ago

OZZY Osbourne once admitted how his loyal wife Sharon Osbourne saved his life "every day" despite his turbulent life.
The Black Sabbath star's death comes just weeks after he took to the stage one final time with his band mates at Villa Park in Birmingham.
3
3
3
Ozzy died aged 76, surrounded by his family on Tuesday morning, after bravely battling against Parkinson's disease.
But the veteran rocker may not have hit the heights of his stellar career if he did not have his loyal wife Sharon standing by his side during his lowest moments.
Ozzy once said of the woman who became his second wife: 'If it weren't for her, without a shadow of a doubt, I would be dead.'
Ozzy's volatile behaviour from his drinking and drug abuse saw his life seemingly fall apart and sparked his divorce from his first wife Thelma.
He was also sacked from Black Sabbath in 1979 as his life continued to spiral downwards.
But everything changed when Sharon Levy turned up at the door that year.
Sharon, then 27, was the daughter of Black Sabbath's manager Don Arden.
They'd first met when she was 18 and working as her dad's receptionist.
The singer wrote in his autobiography I Am Ozzy: 'I fell for Sharon so badly, man.'
And in another interview with Australian music guru Billy Pinnell, Ozzy admitted: "Truly, without my wife at my side, I wouldn't be here – without any doubt.
The rocker did not shy away from the subject, adding: "I wouldn't be alive, I wouldn't be singing.
"She saved my life every day."
When she turned up at his door, Sharon convinced the wreck that he could be a solo star, and that she should be the one to manage him.
The pair wed in Hawaii on July 4, 1982.
Not only did she become mother to his three children Aimee, Kelly and Jack but she also got things back on track.
Debut solo album Blizzard of Ozz, with big numbers like Crazy Train, Suicide Solution and Mr Crowley, appeared in September 1980, and eventually sold more than five million copies.
Sharon also amped up his satanic image, encouraging stage antics such as flinging animal entrails into the audience.
But while Ozzy's solo career soared, so did his appetite for booze, illegal drugs and prescription pills.
He later said: 'I was a beast. Absolutely terrifying.'
Ozzy later expressed regret at the toll his much-publicised drug and alcohol abuse had on Sharon.
In 1989, he attempted to kill Sharon while high on drugs.
Sharon told the Guardian in 2001: 'He was totally insane from all the drink and drugs he was doing, and well, these things happen.'
She fought him off and Ozzy was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, but Sharon later dropped the charges and he spent three months in rehab.
Ozzy's family statement
BLACK Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne has died at the age of 76.
A statement from his family said: "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning.
"He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.
"Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis."
Ozzy was also injured in a quad bike crash at his UK home in 2003, an episode that had a serious impact on his fragile health.
Yet there was also redemption for the troubled singer, who relaunched himself as a reality TV star in The Osbournes in the early 2000s, after getting clean from drink and drugs with the help of Sharon.
"The crap that I put her through when I was abusing myself - I'd disappear for weeks on end and I'd smack her in the eye and do all these horrible things, and she stuck by me and she got me through all kinds of stuff," Ozzy said.
In later years, Ozzy became much more than just a singer.
Along with Sharon and his kids, they became global TV sensations through their groundbreaking fly-on-the-wall documentary The Osbournes.
It was such a smash hit that it paved the way for similar reality shows featuring Paris Hilton and later The Kardashians.
Only three weeks ago, the Prince of Darkness who brought light into so many lives gave us one last ­hurrah when heavy metal royalty descended on Villa Park, Birmingham, to pay their respects.
The Back to the Beginning gig ended with him - seated on a giant black throne because he could not stand - joining his Black Sabbath muckers on the songs that took him to the world stage.
Ozzy Osbourne's career
The singer first pursued his love of music after hearing The Beatles hit She Loves You in 1963, aged 15.
After appearing in a handful of school plays, Ozzy joined Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler in their first group Rare Breed in 1967.
When that band split, the pair reunited in Polka Tulk Blues alongside Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward.
The group later became known as Black Sabbath and went onto shatter the music world with their whining guitar solos, Occult-based lyrics and Ozzy's screeching vocals.
In 1970, the group gained a cult following in both the US and UK after releasing their eponymous first album.
Black Sabbath saw incredible success with hit tracks such as Paranoid but discord in the group saw most of the original line-up leave.
Ozzy himself quit the band in 1978, with a spiral into drug abuse leading to a divorce from first wife Thelma Mayfair, who he had two children with.
It was then he first met a young Sharon Arden, who Ozzy at first wrote off as he believed she would think he was a "lunatic".
But the singer could not be more wrong and the pair married in Hawaii in July 1982 before going on to have three children together, Aimee, Kelly and Jack.
With Sharon's encouragement and help from her music manager dad Don, he began to carve out a successful solo career.
His seminal first album Blizzard of Ozz in 1980 became a multi-platinum success thanks to Ozzy's howling vocals and macabre laugh on hit Crazy Train.
Coupled with the Prince of Darkness' insane tour that saw him bite the head off a live bat, a string of successful tracks followed - cementing Ozzy as a rock legend around the world.
In 1992, the singer announced his retirement but four years later created the beloved annual music festival Ozzfest with Sharon.
Ozzy returned to Black Sabbath in 1999, with the band winning a Grammy for best metal performance for the song Iron Man.
They later earned the same award in 2013 after releasing single God Is Dead? from album 13.