Ozzy Osbourne considered ending his own life
Black Sabbath legend Ozzy Osbourne once considered taking his own life due to the botched neck surgery that prevented him from performing on stage and forced him into early retirement.
In the upcoming Paramount + documentary “Ozzy: No Escape From Now,” the late rock legend – who passed away in July, admitted he once suffered from suicidal thoughts.
Ozzy Osbourne goes candid
“The thought of not doing any gigs anymore – I went really into depression,” he said in the documentary. “I’m on antidepressants now, actually. Because I was getting ready to off myself at some point.”
The heavy metal singer-songwriter faced several physical health challenges throughout his life. In 2003, he barely survived an ATV accident when his quad flipped over and landed on him while he was riding on his estate in London. In 2019, he underwent surgery following a serious fall, and he had another operation in 2022. His most recent surgery took place in September 2023.
“I’ll go [to s**cide] in my head and I go, ‘What are you f—ing talking about?’ Because knowing me, I’d half-do it, and I’d be half-dead and… I wouldn’t die, you know,” he says in the documentary. “That’s my luck.”
Ozzy’s wife, Sharon, stated that the neck surgeries played a major role in her husband’s declining health. Surgical screws and metal plates were used, “which didn’t need doing,” Sharon said in the doc.
“[Those] caused even more damage,” she added.
“The Parkinson’s is progressing, but the main problem is the nerve damage from the bad neck surgery,” Ozzy and Sharon’s son, Jack, said.
“That f—ing doctor just stripped him, you know, of his abilities to move.”
“It makes me so angry, because I felt like all this could have been avoided. It didn’t have to happen,” he said, becoming emotional.
In 2023, Osbourne announced the cancellation of his tour dates due to a spinal injury that hindered his ability to perform. He acknowledged that while his “singing voice is fine” but he felt physically weak after undergoing three surgeries, stem cell treatments, physical therapy, and Hybrid Assistive Limb treatment, which utilizes a robotic exoskeleton to enhance movement.
Ozzy Osbourne didn’t want to discuss dying
Ozzy Osbourne and his family didn’t like discussing mortality. However, but there was one important conversation the rocker did have with his wife Sharon.
Osbourne, who passed away on July 22nd, 2025, at age 76, wrote in his new memoir Last Rites that his wife and children would often shut down any conversation about his death. Still, there was one thing he and Sharon, 72, did discuss.
“The only conversation I’ve had with Sharon was when we decided we wanted to be buried together,” he wrote in the book. “I’ve also said to Sharon, don’t you dare go before me. It’s my biggest fear now, Sharon leaving this world before I do. If she does, I won’t be too far behind. I live for the woman.”
Osbourne also dispelled any rumor of a “s**cide pact” between the couple, who married in 1982 and shared daughters Aimee, and Kelly, and son Jack.
“That’s bulls—. We just don’t want some drawn-out end on a breathing tube,” he explained.
Osbourne passed away just days after taking part in the long-awaited Back to the Beginning farewell concert with Black Sabbath on July 5. Last Rites covers the last seven or so years of his life, including his growing number of health problems and his fight to get back on stage one last time.
