The Prince of Darkness opened up about his health in a recent 'Rolling Stone UK' profile.
Ozzy Osbourne is opening up about whether he has a fear of dying and the setbacks from a recent back surgery that led to the discovery of a tumor in one of the vertebrae.
In an in-depth interview with Rolling Stone UK, the 74-year-old rock star recalled feeling lucky that he's alive. It's a major accomplishment, he says, because "I should have been dead a thousand times." Ozzy, who has been open about his addictions and overdoses, marveled at the fact that he's still here with us.
"I've been doing a lot of reflection while I've been laid up, and all my drinking partners, I've realized they're all f***ing dead!" he says. "The graveyard's full of them! YOu're dead and you're dead and you're dead."
He adds, "I should have been dead way before loads of them. Why am I 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?!' I'm not boasting about any of it because I should have been dead a thousand times. I've had my stomach pumped God knows how many times."
And while talking about whether he fears death, Ozzy revealed his own timeline.
"I don't fear death, but I don't want to have a long, painful and miserable existence," he told the magazine, which honored him with its first-ever Icon Award. "I like the idea that if you have a terminal illness, you can go to a place in Switzerland and get it done quickly. I saw my father die of cancer."
"But look," he continued. "I said to Sharon that I'd smoked a joint recently and she said, 'What are you doing that for! It'll f***ing kill you!' I said, 'How long do you want me to f***ing live for?!' At best, I've got ten years left and when you're older, time picks up speed."
It's unclear if the 10-year timeline is Ozzy's own guess or if it's what doctors have informed the rock legend. ET has reached out to Ozzy's rep for clarification.
In the same interview, Ozzy also shared that he underwent a fourth spinal surgery earlier this year to remedy the damage caused by a fall in 2019. The damage included the dislodging of metal rods put into his body, which was required following a quad bike crash at his home in the UK back in 2003.
"It's really knocked me about," 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 tumor 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."
Sharon, who last week shared her own health update, says "it's been nearly five years of heartache" amid Ozzy's health battles.
"And at time I've just felt so helpless and so bad for Ozzy, to see him going through this pain," she adds. "He's gone through all these operations and the whole thing has felt like a nightmare. He hasn't lost his sense of humor, but I look at my husband, and he's here while everyone else is out on the road. This is the longest time he hasn't ever worked for. Being at home for so long has been so foreign to him."
But the rock star, who went public with his Parkinson's disease diagnosis in 2020, is not giving up hopes of getting back onstage one day despite announcing earlier this year that he would end his touring career. He told Rolling Stone UK that he's "f***ing pissed off" that he "never got the chance to say goodbye or thank you."
"For whatever reason, that's my goal to work to. To do those shows. If it's Ozzfest or somewhere, or even a f***ing gig at the Roundhouse," he says. "If I can't continue doing shows on a regular basis, I just want to be well enough to do one show where I can say, 'Hi guys, thanks so much for my life.' that's what I'm working towards, and if I drop down dead at the end of it, I'll die a happy man."
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