Ozzy Osbourne: "I've been back on the booze & drugs...but I'm not splitting up with Sharon"

Ozzy Osbourne: "I've been back on the booze & drugs...but I'm not splitting up with Sharon"

As the self-styled Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne was one of the original hard-partying rockers, drinking and taking almost every drug he could lay his hands on.

So he stunned even his closest family and friends when he managed to banish his addiction demons almost a decade ago.

It was a hard-fought battle, and one which today he has admitted he lost.

After almost 10 years off drink and drugs - including heroin, LSD and prescription pills - the star spiralled into a booze and substance-fuelled depression and now has revealed he is just 44 days sober, following an 18-month binge.

But while the 64-year-old yesterday released a heartfelt statement admitting he is in “a very dark place”, sources say his battle began after the devastating cancer diagnosis of his Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi.

Ozzy publicly pledged to support him but insiders say Ozzy had stru ggled to cope with news of his close pal’s illness and had fallen off the wagon after flying to England to visit him.

The rocker, who has been living apart from his wife of 31 years Sharon for three weeks amid fears their marriage is over, said yesterday: “For the last year and a half I have been drinking and taking drugs.

“I was in a very dark place and was an a****** to the people I love most, my family. However, I am happy to say that I am now 44 days sober.

“Just to set the record straight, Sharon and I are not divorcing. I’m just trying to be a better person.

“I would like to apologize to Sharon, my family, my friends and my band mates for my insane behavior during this period, and my fans.”

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The couple have been spending time apart recently after finally reaching breaking point.

Sharon is currently living at the five star Beverly Hills Hotel after spending two weeks in London, while having a new six bedroom home in Los Angeles renovated.

Meanwhile, Ozzy has been hanging out with friends including guitarist Billy Morrison at a rented mansion just two miles away - alongside joining his Black Sabbath bandmates at a nearby rehearsal studio.

A source said: “Sharon and Ozzy have had plenty of chances to see each other, but don’t seem to have made any effort at all to do so.”

She has been seen joining daughter Kelly, 28, for lunch at Hollywood’s Ivy restaurant, while Ozzy has made trips to visit their son Jack, 27. And she alluded to their difficulties on Twitter when she posted recently: “I’ve had a really tough year and I ask myself, how can I get up every day and smile?”

But, after enduring yet another rocky patch in their marriage, Ozzy has vowed to change for the better.

It is unlikely to be easy for the couple to build bridges however, as Ozzy is scheduled to fly New Zealand this week ahead of the first date of his band Black Sabbath’s reunion tour in Auckland on Saturday, and will spend most of the year away with gigs in North America, South America and Europe.

Both Ozzy and Sharon have hectic schedules

Meanwhile Sharon is expected to return to The X Factor in Britain later this year, alongside her American TV commitments which include a lunchtime chat show.

And while Ozzy is trying to put his recent relapse behind him, it has obviously been a difficult couple of years for the star and his family.

Guitarist Iommi, 65, a founder member of Black Sabbath with Ozzy in 1969, was diagnosed with lymphoma almost 18 months ago, with Ozzy quickly speaking out about the need to support the rocker.

He said last year: “When the bombshell hit about Tony’s cancer problem, I came to England. It would’ve been pretty bad if I would’ve stayed in L.A.”

Ozzy added: “He needs more and more support, man. He doesn’t have a brother, he doesn’t have a sister - it’s just him and his wife and the members of Black Sabbath. So any encouragement, any support is appreciated.

“He’s gonna beat it. What it’s down to is determination and believe me, this guy’s got more determination than anybody I’ve ever met. He ain’t gonna die.”

But while he was determined to help his bandmate, the pressures were clearly beginning to build.

A source close to the star explained: “In public Ozzy was very strong, but beneath the surface he was totally broken by the news.

“One of the reasons Ozzy quit drinking in the first place was because he had watched so many of his friends die from abuse, and something just clicked in his mind and he wanted a drink.

“He couldn’t cope with the thought of losing Tony and wanted to chill out, but obviously it quickly spiralled out of control and it has taken a massive, massive toll on his marriage to Sharon.”

Ozzy with his Black Sabbath bandmates

Ozzy has made no secret of his battle with drink and drugs, which included a heroin addiction and a heavy cocaine habit alongside cannabis, LSD and a host of prescription medication which he would routinely down with bottles of booze.

“I get high, I get f***** up,” he confessed in 1978. “What the hell’s wrong with getting f***** up? There must be something wrong with the system if so many people have to get f***** up.”

His darkest hour even saw him attempt to strangle his wife to death during a bender in 1989, which he later admitted he “regrets” but is unable to remember.

“I didn’t believe in blackouts,” he told a magazine interview in 2010. “I thought they were a myth, until one day I woke up in a police cell and the police officer read the rap sheet, which said: ‘Mr. John Michael Osbourne, you have been charged with the attempted murder of Sharon Osbourne.’

“I had no f****** idea, and that is a scary place to be.”

He also confessed: “Even that didn’t stop me drinking. The drugs and drink didn’t work. Everything turned to s***. I used to think that the whole world drank. In my world they did.

“I don’t know another job where you can turn up out of your brains and people around you say, ‘It’s going to be a good one tonight’.”

He added: “The first thing I quit was tobacco. I couldn’t do anything without a cigarette, but I’m a singer so that had to go. Then the illegal drugs went, but I was also addicted to prescription drugs for 25 years.

“I used to be under the illusion that alcohol and drugs help you create melodies. I used to think, How the f*** can I write music without smoking a joint or taking a line of coke?”

His addictions led to a string of erratic, dangerous and often illegal behaviour during the 1980s, leading to several arrests and global controversies.

From biting the heads off a dove and a bat - though Ozzy says t he bat was dead - to being banned from whole cities for urinating on a monument and public intoxication, nothing was too outrageous for the star.

The Osbournes - minus eldest daughter Aimee

 

He finally managed to kick the bottle after opening up to his friends and family, including Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward and wife Sharon, who has previously said that their son Jack’s decision to go tee-total in 2003 marked the beginning of Ozzy’s sobriety.

“Jack getting sober was really his big turning point,” she said. “Jack was dealing with life sober for the first time.”

Sharon and Ozzy met when she was just 18 years old and working for her father, Don Arden, the groups’s then manager.

When Ozzy was sacked from the band in 1979 due to his excessive drinking and drug abuse, Sharon took over his management as a solo artist and they began dating - going on to sell more than 100 million records together.

The couple tied the knot in 1982 in Miami, Hawaii, and have three children together Aimee, Kelly and Jack, in a 31-year- marriage wracked with in-fighting, abusive behaviour and drama - often heightened by Ozzy’s boozing.

The early years of their relationship was plagued by violence, but the singer’s sober period allowed the two to cement their relationship and he has since credited Sharon for saving his life.

However their marriage has always remained fiery, and viewers of their reality TV show The Osbournes were stunned by their constant arguments and vicious swearing at each other.

And while they have already gone through so much, their latest set-back is unlikely to spell the end of one of the most volatile couples in showbusiness.    

 

Ozzy's wildest moments

1981

He famously bit the head off a live dove during a Los Angeles meeting record executives, later admitting he had planned to release the dove as a sign of peace but in a state of extreme intoxication had instead grabbed the bird and bitten off its’ head, before spitting it ou t with blood dripping from his lips.

1982

He following year when performing on stage in Iowa, the singer bit the head off a bat in an incident which led to him needing treatment for rabies, though despite Osbourne’s claims there is some debate over whether the animal was alive at the time. In the same year he was arrested for urinating on a monument erected in honour of those who died at the Alamo in Texas while drunk, and he was banned from the city of San Antonio for ten years.

1984

Ozzy was again arrested for public intoxication during a tour with rockers Motley Crue which has subsequently gone down in rock and roll legend as one of the wildest tours of all time.