Ozzy Osbourne's sobriety struggles and how he overcame them
The Grammy-winning "Prince of Darkness" and legendary rocker died July 22, just weeks after reuniting with Black Sabbath for a final show in England. He was 76.
Osbourne was one of the most iconic figures in rock, molding the sound and perception of heavy metal with his one-of-a-kind voice and shocking antics. He followed his rock zenith with a reality TV career, making him as well known for biting the head off a bat on stage and eating a live dove in a meeting with record executives as he was for his bemusing bickering at home with his wife and kids.
Fans also watched his well-documented journey overcoming addiction, and Osbourne ultimately achieved sobriety and released his penultimate 2020 album: 'Ordinary Man.'
After the first year of sobriety, he could 'start breathing again'
Osbourne, whose issues with alcoholism and drug addiction began in the 1970s and got him booted from Black Sabbath in 1979, grew serious about his sobriety around 2014 after numerous attempts at rehab and recovery dating back to 1984. In a recent interview, he told The Sun that he once drank 28 gallons of alcohol to get through the Christmas season.
'I thought I'd be drinking to the day I die,' Osbourne said in a 2021 interview with Variety. His wife and longtime manager, 'The Talk' co-host Sharon Osbourne, and son Jack, who at the time had been sober for 17 years, also joined him for the sit-down.
'I've always been self-medicating because I've never liked the way I felt. I've had great success in my life, but I've never felt great about myself,' he said in the interview.
"Most of the people that I drank with are dead. And the ones that aren't, that still continue to drink, are going to be dead soon," Osbourne added. "It's not a happy ending.'
Osbourne's son was also asked about his sobriety. 'The first year is the worst, isn't it Jack? After the first year it's like you can start breathing again,' Osbourne told his son.
Life on a 'Crazy Train': A timeline of Ozzy Osbourne's odyssey
'Ordinary Man' was the first album Osbourne recorded 'completely sober'
'Ordinary Man' tapped into the darker side of sobriety with "Straight to Hell," an anti-drug song featuring rapper Post Malone that recalls a wild, 1972 moment of Osbourne's drug life with Black Sabbath.
While recording near Bel Air, California, police swarmed the band's rented house filled with cocaine and marijuana after Osbourne accidentally set off an alarm, thinking it was air conditioning.
In a 2020 interview with Apple Music, Osbourne said the album was the first project he's completed sober.
"I thought it was the drugs and the alcohol that made it all work," he said. "But it's not true. All I was doing for years was self-medicating because I didn't like the way I felt. But then this is the first album I've co-wrote and recorded (expletive) completely sober. The last album, I wrote some of it stoned."
Osbourne admitted, "I quite like being sober now. 'Cause at least I can remember the (expletive) thing I did yesterday.''
Osbourne dies at 76, weeks after final Black Sabbath show
A family statement shared with USA TODAY said Osbourne died in Birmingham, England, "surrounded by love."
"It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy has passed away this morning," the statement read. "He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time."
Ozzy Osbourne was diagnosed with a form of Parkinson's disease in 2019 after he suffered a bad fall that "screwed up all the vertebrae" in his neck, leading to the cancellation of a European tour. Osbourne kept his struggles private but eventually wanted to share with his fans.
He leaves behind Sharon Osbourne, his wife of more than 40 years, as well as daughters Jessica, Aimee and Kelly and sons Elliot, Louis and Jack.
Less than two weeks before his death, a new memoir from Osbourne called "Last Rites" was announced (releasing Oct. 7 from Grand Central Publishing Group). The publisher describes it as "the shocking, bitterly hilarious, never-before-told story of Osbourne's descent into hell."
In the book, Osbourne says, "Look, if it ends tomorrow, I can't complain. I've been all around the world. Seen a lot of things. I've done good… and I've done bad. But right now, I'm not ready to go anywhere."
Contributing: Melissa Ruggieri, Jim Sergent, Carlie Procell and Sara M. Moniuszko
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