Ozzy Osbourne Reveals Secret Battle With Parkinson's Disease

The Prince of Darkness is in the midst of fighting the battle of his life.

Ozzy Osbourne has just revealed he is suffering from Parkinson’s Disease in an exclusive interview with Good Morning America, which first aired on Tuesday morning. The legendary rocker was diagnosed last February and first chose to keep it private for nearly a year before coming forward now.

Speaking to GMA host Robin Roberts about his health status and the diagnosis, the legendary rock star opened up, saying:

“It’s been terribly challenging for us all. I did my last show New Year’s Eve [2018] at The Forum. Then I had a bad fall. I had to have surgery on my neck, which screwed all my nerves.”

The surgery led docs to examine Ozzy more closely, and he was soon diagnosed with a form of Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that has no cure and typically progresses slowly as people age.

The Black Sabbath vocalist’s equally-popular wife, Sharon, revealed more to Roberts, explaining the exact nature of the disease and how it’s affected their family:

“It’s PRKN 2. There’s so many different types of Parkinson’s; it’s not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body. And it’s — it’s like you have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day.”

The presence of the disease led Ozzy to cancel his world tour this past year, and he’s since largely remained secluded at home, taking pills for his nerves in addition to his Parkinson’s medication. It’s not perfect, by any stretch, but slowly it sounds like he’s started to figure out a new lifestyle that works for him.

Even better still, as the legendary rock frontman notes, it feels good to come clean and open up about what he’s been dealing with over the last year. The heavy metal headbanger added:

“I’m no good with secrets. I cannot walk around with it anymore ’cause it’s like I’m running out of excuses, you know? I got a numbness down this arm for the surgery, my legs keep going cold. I don’t know if that’s the Parkinson’s or what, you know, but that’s — see, that’s the problem. Because they cut nerves when they did the surgery. I’d never heard of nerve pain, and it’s a weird feeling.”

We can’t even imagine.

Kelly osbourne — Kelly is there to do whatever she can for her dad. / (c) FayesVision/WENN

For daughter Kelly, also no stranger to fame in her own right, it’s been very hard watching her father wither while struggling with the disease. The 35-year-old chimed in about that, adding:

“The hardest thing is watching somebody that you love suffer. It’s kind of become a bit of — I think a role reversal for us, where we have to be like, ‘Snap out of it. Come on we — we have to all admit what’s happening here,’ so that we can get over this. And it took a while for everyone to be on the same page. We’ve all learned so much about each other again — and it’s reaffirmed how strong we are.”

Well said…

Unfortunately, the family is no stranger to serious health challenges; Ozzy and Sharon’s youngest son Jack was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis back in 2012, in another particularly difficult time for the famous fam.

Tough To Adjust

The rocker had to seriously ramp down his tour schedule after the diagnosis, cutting out a round-the-world run and pretty much being forced to sit around the house to recover. Even at his age — Ozzy turned 71 years old back in December — that hasn’t been the easiest thing.

The Prince of Darkness explains:

“Coming from a working class background, I hate to let people down. I hate to not do my job. And so when I see my wife goin’ to work, my kids goin’ to work, everybody’s doing — tryin’ to be helpful to me, that gets me down because I can’t contribute to my family, you know. But you know, put it this way — I’m a lot better now than I was last February. I was in a shocking state.”

Wow… we can’t even imagine.

sharon osbourne reveals she's getting a new face — Sharon has long been in Ozzy’s corner, and nothing will change now that he’s battling Parkinson’s Disease. / (c) WENN

For Sharon, though, allowing Ozzy to take time off and helping him to get back on his feet was never a question.

The wife and mom explained more, and noted the next step will be medical care outside the United States:

“We have all played a role. But the only thing I know is what can I do to make him smile? I know going to the studio makes him happy. That’s what I did. Everything else was him. Now, we’ve kind of reached a point here in this country where we can’t go any further because we’ve got all the answers we can get here. So in April — we’re going to a professional in Switzerland. And he deals with — getting your immune system at its peak.”

Wow! Here’s hoping a major step like that will seriously help improve Ozzy’s well-being and day-to-day life, at the very least.

Even now, though, the longtime heavy metal mainstay is already thinking about getting back out to perform again. He recently released a new single, Ordinary Man, his first new music in more than a decade, and it’s clear he wants to be back on stage again soon.

The septuagenarian explained optimistically:

“My fans, they’re my air, you know. I feel better. I’ve owned up to the fact that I have — a case of Parkinson’s. And I just hope they hang on and they’re there for me because I need them. I wanna see my people, you know. It’s like I’m — I miss them so much.”

Awww! Such an uplifting thing to say… let’s make it happen!

BTW, you can watch more from GMA‘s full interview segment (below):

.@ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Rock legend @OzzyOsbourne sits down with @RobinRoberts and breaks his silence about his private health battle with Parkinson's disease. https://t.co/tYd0K3rQet pic.twitter.com/ANaS82xakY

— Good Morning America (@GMA) January 21, 2020