Ozzy Osbourne has confessed he "should have been dead a thousand times" due to his long-running battle with booze and drugs.
The Black Sabbath vocalist, 74, has outlived many of his rocker friends, including Motörhead’s Lemmy, who died in 2015, and UFO bassist Pete Way, who passed away in 2020. Discussing the loss of his late friends with Rolling Stone UK from his California mansion, Ozzy revealed he questions how he's still alive.
He said: "I've been doing a lot of reflection while I've been laid up, and all my drinking partners, I've realised they're all f***ing dead. The graveyard’s full of them! You’re dead and you’re dead and you’re dead.”
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"I should have been dead before loads of them. Why am I the last man standing? I don’t understand any of it. Sometimes I look in the mirror and go, 'Why the f***k did you make it?'"
The rock star, who was raised in Birmingham, rose to fame in the 1970s as a founding member of Black Sabbath. The rock band would go on to change the face of the music industry and have been hailed as the pioneers of heavy metal music.
But in 1979, Ozzy was fired from the band due to alcohol and drug problems – things the rocker has famously battled throughout his five decades-long career. He confessed his long-term substance abuse should have already killed him.
"I should have been dead a thousand times. I've had my stomach pumped God knows how many times," Ozzy said. But somehow The Prince of Darkness star is still going.
After being fired by Black Sabbath he went on to forge his own successful solo career and is regarded to be one of rock's most influential figures. He's sold more than 100millon records throughout his career and was recently awarded the first-ever Rolling Stone UK Icon Award.
His wild career has had some insane moments, including when he bit off a bat's head while on stage in Des Moines after mistaking it for a rubber toy and the time he snorted ants like a drug while relaxing at a poolside bar with Mötley Crüe in 1984. But while he's lived a crazy life so far, Ozzy announced earlier this year he is retiring from touring after struggling with ongoing health issues.
In 2003, he was diagnosed with a mild form of Parkinson's disease, although he only publicly revealed the diagnosis in 2020. Earlier this year, he also underwent a fourth round of spinal surgery to fix the damage he suffered from a fall in 2019 which dislodged metal rods in his back.
The rods had been put into his body after a quad bike crash at his Buckinghamshire home in 2003. Ozzy revealed the surgeries have taken a serious toll on his health.
He said: "The second surgery went drastically wrong and virtually left me crippled. I thought I’d be up and running after the second and third, but with the last one they put a f***ing rod in my spine. They found a tumour in one of the vertebrae, so they had to dig all that out too. It’s pretty rough, man, and my balance is all f***ed up.”
On Thursday, Ozzy's wife Sharon accepted the UK Icon Awards on his behalf after he was too ill to travel to the ceremony. She said witnessing Ozzy's health declining has "felt like a nightmare".
The couple are now planning to move back across the pond to their Buckinghamshire family home. While Ozzy never expected to survive as long as he has, he reveals he's grateful for the life he's had.
“I do count my lucky stars. I don’t know why I’m still here and I do sometimes think I’m on borrowed time. I said to Sharon the other day, ‘What a great f***ing life we’ve had and what a great f***ing experience,'" he said.
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