'No Saint' Ozzy Osbourne Nearly Falls Off the Wagon

By Nicki Gostin Posted Jan 14th 2011 12:11PM

Recovery hasn't come easy for Ozzy Osbourne, the king of heavy metal debauchery whose life story boils over with tales of drunken escapades and popping pills, lots and lots of pills. The rock god is off the hard stuff, but tells PopEater that he has slipped on occasion, like about two months ago when he cracked open a beer. "I'm not a saint," he says. "But that was the first time I drank a beer in I don't know how long."

But the man that spent his reality TV days "out of my face" drunk tells us that he found the strength to stop himself. "As soon as I tried it I thought, 'Oh that's it, pull the brakes lad.' In a very short time I'd be having bottles of vodka along with the rest of the crap."

In our full chat, Osbourne, 62, talks candidly about his kids and their own substance abuse issues, the bad taste that 'The Osbournes' left in his mouth and his surprising sense of humor, which is all over his memoir 'I Am Ozzy,' now in paperback.

Sharon's a saint for putting up with all your years of addiction.
It's a two-way street. Everybody thinks I was a useless piece of work and never did anything and Sharon did it all. She did a great deal, but I still maintained my gigs. I still made recordings.

I don't know -- with the amount you drank, you must be pickled by this point.
I am. At the end of the day if you can't stand being in a certain way you either die or get out of it and get some help. It took me a long time. People go to rehab and say it didn't work. It's not that it didn't work; it's that you didn't take the advice they gave you. I was still thirsty, so I carried on drinking.

What was the final straw for you?
I got sick and tired of being sick and tired. There was a time in my drinking career where I never used to get hangovers. I could drink a bottle of booze, have a sleep for an hour and wake up OK. To be perfectly honest I get kind of pissed off that I can't have a beer but that's the way it starts because I've never had one of anything.

I just drank myself to oblivion and then did drugs on top of that. At one point they reckon I was drinking four bottles of Hennessy a day. I'm not bragging about it. At a certain point in drinking you don't care, you can't see. I used to drink myself unconscious every day.

When was the last time you had a drink?
I think I had a beer about eight weeks ago. What I don't do now is not tell anybody. I have to tell somebody because if I don't I'm down that pipe hole again. I'm not a saint. But that was the first time I drank a beer in I don't know how long. When you're on the road and stuck in some foreign country ... the best part of touring is the gig. The rest is hanging around in a hotel room, and I just thought, "Oh, I'll try it," and as soon as I tried it I thought, "Oh, that's it, pull the brakes lad." In a very short time I'd be having bottles of vodka along with the rest of the crap.

Do you regret doing 'The Osbournes?'
I believe that everyone's life is planned to a certain degree. I don't regret because it was fun for a while, and it got bad. It was mine, my wife and kids' five minutes of mega stardom. After it, I said to Sharon that I'll do the occasional interview but I don't want to be the next anchorman. I don't like doing TV. To be honest I've watched very little of the show, maybe less than half of one show. I don't like to see myself on TV.

You were portrayed a little bit as a doddering, slurring fool.
I was out of my face. You have a camera crew living in your house any length of time, you'd start drinking, too. At first it's fun, but it gets old very quickly. It was the editing. One day I'll probably sit down and watch a few episodes and I'll probably sh*t myself.

Do you blame yourself at all for Jack and Kelly's problems?
I don't blame myself. If I was a vicar they still would have found drugs. Jack got clean before I did. If you ask me, nine out of 10 families these days have problems with drugs. Every kid is going to try booze and drugs.

I gotta say your book is really, really funny.
Humor is a big part of my existence. I didn't want to write a book about how fabulous I was and my rock-and-roll lifestyle. I mean we're blessed doing what we do. I don't have to get up at 7 and go straight to work to a job I don't like. Singing is a passion of mine, and I'm very fortunate at my age to be able to still do it, you know. I've had a great career, I'm not always happy, but humor has helped me get out of my darkest places.

You seem to worry a lot.
I worry about my family, I worry about my health. I worry about the world. I suppose I worry a bit too much because whatever's going to happen is going to happen. It's just my makeup.

How's your health these days?
My doctor said to me that I'm a testament to what the human body can go through. I'm not boasting; I'm just very lucky. They tested my genes, and they found out I'm allergic to alcohol, and I said, "I could have told them that before!"

Are you tired of always having the bat story brought up?
Next question. That f**king bat's got more publicity than me.

So it pisses you off?
What gets me is I've been doing what I've been doing for 42 years and there's more to me than biting the f**king head of a bat.

That infamous incident came two years after Ozzy released his signature song.

Tags: ozzy osbourne

Comments

(94)

Friday 14 January

By doneldathomas

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LYNN THANKS FOR THE INFO. i'LL CHECK IT OUT.TAHNKS AGAIN....

By MAGOOS

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Pity he did not - all the way across the Atlantic with his oddball family.

By rann948

This guy makes me want to puke. If you can't perform without booze or drugs, you are no performer. You're just a robot running on rum. I would like some of these morons to make their acceptance thank yous to Jack Daniels or MaryJane at least it would be honest.

By keeniisite

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Go play a Back Street Boys CD and shut up, you twit

By ajschrod

You're going to get a lot of thumbs down, rann. His screaming gibberish at high volume was what most people wanted in place of music, and unfortunately, Ozzie was good at it!

By tony

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yous? wtf,dude learn how to spell.

By Kathy

Go listen to your Justin Bieber cd's you jackwagon! Ozzy Rules! He's the Prince of Darkness bad boy and he's well loved! Rock on Ozzy you're the best!

By ozzyfan

rann948? tell it to his accountant. Ozzy is timeless, a legend, and if you read his book you'd know the difficult childhood he had. His albums go multi-platinum time after time and his fans have loved him for over four decades. His songs have meant so much to so many, he is an amazing artist and you obviously just don't get it.

By jazz

Ozzy, you rock

The most fun I've ever had and the best people I ever did, I did to your music Ozzie.

By Ed

I'm all behind Ozzie. I struggle with demons on a daily basis and know what he's going through. All you can say is... Go For It Ozzie !!!

By BOB HARRIS

the first time i, saw ozzie , was aug. 23 1975 . it was at the sam houston collesuem in houston tx. brownsville station opened for them. for those who dont remember brownsville sta. they were the ones that did smoking in the boys room. it was a great concert . i remember paying 3.00 for that ticket, still have that stub. anyway still glad to know there is still ozzie fans out there.

By Boomer

Never heard of her.....

Did she play in a band?

By Ben

Are you on Suboxone? This pill/drug has been used with great success to batle addiction it is a miracle 30 minutes after the first suboxone pill and i was curred from years of narcotic abuse.

Good luck Ozzie!

By rebecca

OZZY FOR EVER!!!!!!! DAMN WOULD HAVE LOVED TO BE AT THAT BOOK SIGNING!!!!

By Ralph

Thank you Ozzie for all the years of great music, yes we all have demonds and I fight my daily, but then again if we did'nt have demonds we would'nt be human.

By i143b

i hate to say it but being a rock star is what it is. If you can perform well and have a great following then more power to you! I mean they dont call it sex drugs and rock and roll! If you can still do your job then wtf, who cares! Ozzy is and will always be a legend. Yeah, maybe drugs got a little out of hand for him, but it happens to the best of us! Hes a multimillionaire and ppl love him! He obviously didnt get to where he is being an addict! He still does what he loves and ppl still love him! whats the problem?? you go OZZY!

By goatcars2

I'm certainly glad Ozzie opened up about drug and alcohol use in his family because I never would have guessesd that was taking place ....I mean he acts and speaks so normal!!!!!

By Kevin

If he drank beer he didn't "nearly fall off the wagon", he fell of the wagon. Why sugar-coat it. If he is an alcoholic than he can't drink and if he is slipping the occasional beer now he will be back to a full-blown drunk soon, it is just a matter of time.

By chczander22

What makes you the expert donkey, If your a drunk admit it if not forget it.

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