Prince of Darkness recalls wife’s tough love – but admits he couldn’t live without it
Ozzy Osbourne has recalled the moment wife Sharon told him to “die quietly” while he was suffering the effects of strong drugs.
The Black Sabbath frontman won the Classic Album award for Blizzard Of Ozz at the Classic Rock Roll Of Honour in Los Angeles this week, while Sharon was named VIP of the year.
Speaking at the gala event, Ozzy recalled Sharon’s “tough love,” saying: “It was about 4am, I was coming off some shit that I’d been taking and I wanted someone to love me back to life.
“I go, ‘Sharon, I think I’m dying.’ She goes, ‘Well, die quietly – I’ve got a meeting at 9 o’clock.’”
But he admitted he couldn’t live without having the riot act read to him, adding: “We’re not afraid to hang our dirty laundry in public. People know us as a family from The Osbournes TV show and that was not fixed. It was the way we live.”
Ozzy also recalled the moment he met guitarist Randy Rhoads, who he credits with helping to launch his solo career after his dismissal from Sabbath in 1979. “I was out of my face and this little guy walks in – I thought he was a little girl at first,” the frontman said. “The next night I went to a recording studio and he played for me. I just said, ‘I’ve got to work with you.’
“I thought it was all over. But he gave me the time, the patience and the confidence to carry on on my own. He was very patient; he was a very true musician and he was a brilliant, wonderful player.”
Sharon this week spoke of her 16-year battle against depression, saying: “Some days you feel like you just want to pull the sheets over your head and not do a damn thing – except rot.”
