Black Sabbath frontman and overarching Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne has revealed he is battling Parkinson’s disease during an exclusive interview with Robin Roberts for Good Morning America.
The legendary rocker, along with his children, Kelly and Jack and wife/manager, Sharon Osbourne, appeared together to shed light on the private health battle that has shaken their family since Ozzy was first diagnosed with the disease last February, following a string of health setbacks.
“I found out I have a mild form of … what is it?” the singer asked his wife, Sharon, in the interview. “PRKN 2, which is a form of Parkinson’s,” she said. “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. It’s like you have a good day, a good day and then a really bad day.”
Osbourne said he has been experiencing other symptoms as well that may or may not stem from Parkinson’s. “I got a numbness down this arm for the surgery; my legs keep going cold,” he said. “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.”
Sharon said that in April Ozzy would be seeking treatment from a professor in Switzerland who specialises in deciphering complex immune disorders in hope of differentiating and the causes of his symptoms. “We’re going to go wherever we can go to seek answers,” she said. Ozzy added, “We’re lucky enough to be able to afford to do that.”
A bad fall at his home in January last year, requiring hospitalisation and two months recovering from neck surgery, and near-deadly staph infection has damaged the singer’s nervous system, which is being treated with medication. Osbourne learned about the Parkinson’s diagnosis during this time, he said on GMA, and that he felt guilty holding back the news from his fans. The singer admitted that talking about the disease made him feel as though a weight had been lifted. “I feel better now that I’ve owned up to the fact that I have a case of Parkinson’s,” he said. “And I just hope [my fans] hang on and they’re there for me because I need them,” referring to his fans his “air.”
Osbourne was forced to postpone his world tour and remain largely secluded while he recovered at home for the better part of last year. Now, he's on the mend, revealing that he's on Parkinson's medication and taking nerve pills. The iconic frontman declared, with admirable optimism, that he cannot wait to get back on the road. “I ain’t done yet,” he said. “I ain’t gonna go anywhere yet.” He’s scheduled to recommence his ‘No More Tours 2’ North American arena tour in May this year.
Black Sabbath | "Paranoid"
Since 1969, Ozzy Osbourne blazed a path through hard rock and heavy metal as the lead singer for pioneering metal icons, Black Sabbath, before launching an epic solo career that saw him ruling the rock charts throughout the decade that followed. Listen to Ozzy Osbourne on Spotify:
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