Ozzy Osbourne— known as “The Prince of Darkness” to music lovers but also “the Dad” to millions of millennial reality TV viewers who grew up watching the singer’s MTV show The Osbournes— has died. He was 76.
The Osbourne family announced the sad news on Tuesday, telling fans that Ozzy died with his family by his side.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis,” the statement reads.
Ozzy’s death comes about five years after he and his wife Sharon appeared on Good Morning America in 2020 to reveal that he had stage 2 Parkinson’s Disease. In the years since that announcement, the family has kept the public updated on Ozzy’s health. Just two weeks ago, Ozzy performed at “Back to the Beginning” in England, a concert billed as his band Black Sabbath‘s last concert. Footage from the concert will be turned into a full-length film called “Back to the Beginning: Ozzy’s Final Bow,” which will be released next year.
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Ozzy and Sharon— along with two of their kids Jack and Kelly— were among the earliest reality TV stars, with their show ‘The Osbournes’ premiering in March 2002 to astonishing ratings. (Season 1 became the most-viewed show in MTV’s history at the time.)
When the show premiered, it was one of the first of its kind, as reality TV was just starting out. ‘The Osbournes’ offered viewers a behind-the-scenes look at a famous family in a way never before seen. Viewers watched as Ozzy — the dad, not the rockstar— navigated life with his teenage kids, while also dealing with health crisis, public scrutiny and more. ‘The Osbournes’ ran for four seasons and 52 episodes on MTV before its cancellation in 2005.
Jack later revealed that Ozzy struggled to film ‘The Osbournes.’
“So my dad did not really like doing ‘The Osbournes’… musicians didn’t do that,” Jack told Yahoo Entertainment in 2019. “Musicians always had this air of mystery about them, you know, and there was this very public persona, and it was calculated, and this, kind of, pulled that back. And I don’t think he liked that. I think he was like, ‘Whoa, the rock star thing … we’ve gotta hold that up. Like, I’m just, kind of, dad now.’ And I think he struggled with that.”
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Ozzy himself later recounted how the fame from the show affected his family.
“I am not sorry I did it, but after three or four years I said, ‘Do you know what, we’re going to lose somebody because it is getting too crazy,’” he told The Mirror in 2023, adding that he and his family experienced trauma because of the show that led them to go down bad paths.
“There is rock-and-roll fame, which is pretty intense, but that ‘Osbourne’ level was just unbelievable. The kids paid for it,” Ozzy said. “They all ended up doing drugs. Jack got clean and sober on that show, Kelly messed up on that show, I was messed up, and Sharon got cancer.”
After ‘The Osbournes,’ though, Ozzy and other members of his family returned to the reality TV world several times. In 2020, Ozzy, Sharon and Jack appeared on the supernatural show The Osbournes Want to Believe. From 2016-2018, Ozzy and Jack visited historical and iconic locations on their show Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour, which also featured appearances by Kelly and Sharon.
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(Photos: MTV; Instagram)
4 Responses
Ozzy is a rock legend. Ozzy loved his family and they loved him. RIP Prince of Darkness.
Ozzy literally built an empire and built such a large community of fans, not to mention changed music forever- in the best of ways. I am praying for his family as I know they loved him so much.
This hit me harder than I ever expected. RIP to the Prince of Darkness. Mama, he came home.