Ozzy Osbourne is 73 years old and in pretty poor health. He has Parkinson’s, he’s still recovering from a neck injury (which required surgery) and he’s dealing with significant nerve damage and assorted other health ailments. Still, he keeps going. He’s got a new album coming out (Patient Number 9) where he collaborated with some American rockers. He also sang for the first time in years at the Commonwealth Games in August, because they were held in Birmingham and that’s where he grew up. Much of Ozzy’s new Observer interview is about his health issues, but he also made the announcement that he’s moving back to England full time after living in LA for decades. He explains why they’re moving back: because America is suddenly too crazy and violent (which is true).
He hadn’t performed for years before the Commonwealth Games: “Since I had my [first neck] surgery and everything got f–ked up, it’s been three or four years since I’ve performed. And I was thinking it’ll never happen again. But that show’s given me a bit of hope.”
His daughter is an anti-vaxxer: “My daughter’s the same, Aimee, my oldest.” Why is Aimee anti-vaxx? “Live in LA for a few years,” shrugs Ozzy, by way of answer.
He was fine with the pandemic lockdown: “When that happened I was like: ‘This is all right – I can’t f–king work anyway and now neither can anybody else. So I’ll just go along with it. And when it comes back to working again, I’ll be OK.’ Little did I f–king know.”
All of his medical dramas: “It got so bad that at one point I thought: ‘Oh God, please don’t let me wake up tomorrow morning.’ Because it was f–king agony.”
Why they’re moving back to England full-time, according to Sharon: “I knew people would think that [it’s about his health]. It’s not. It’s just time. America has changed so drastically. It isn’t the United States of America at all. Nothing’s united about it. It’s a very weird place to live right now.”
Ozzy on why they’re moving back: “Everything’s f–king ridiculous there. I’m fed up with people getting killed every day. God knows how many people have been shot in school shootings. And there was that mass shooting in Vegas at that concert… It’s f–king crazy. And I don’t want to die in America. I don’t want to be buried in f–king Forest Lawn. I’m English. I want to be back. But saying that, if my wife said we’ve got to go and live in Timbuktu, I’ll go. But, no, it’s just time for me to come home.”
I find it suspicious that twenty months into the Biden administration, America is suddenly “f–king ridiculous” to Sharon and Ozzy. Like, they were living in LA during the f–king Trump years and I guess it was fine with them? Sharon is pretty f–king racist, so I guess so. But if they’re saying that America is violent and there are too many guns, too many racists and too many sociopaths with power, I would agree. Those are legitimate reasons to move out of the US. I also think Ozzy has probably wanted to go back to England for a while, and Sharon was the one who wanted to stay in LA and work. She was fired from The Talk last year and I get the feeling she’s burned a lot of bridges professionally in LA. So be it.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of the Guardian Observer.
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- Kelly Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne attends The Pre-GRAMMY Gala and GRAMMY Salute to Industry Icons in Los Angeles on Saturday, January 25th, 2020Photograph: © PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com,Image: 563119025, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com, Model Release: no, Credit line: PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- Ozzy Osbourne and Kelly Osbourne arrive at the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 563150816, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
Good riddance to both of them.
Agreed.
I want that teacup he’s holding on the cover of the magazine. And I love Kelly’s nail color in the family photo. Other than that – the Osbornes, who? Bye!
Who? Only the frontman of one of the biggest rock and roll bands of all time but sure. That said, bye Sharon
I love Kelly’s purple hair in that photo! The vibrant color and EXCELLENT haircut…. In fact I think she looks overall amazing! Even if her parents ARE limey twats!
I’ve always loved Kelly’s style.
Never heard of them until that reality show came on.
This was my reaction when I read that Olivia Wilde wanted to take her kids to London next year. Our school just started and my kids have already had lockdown drills, and 2 schools in our district have had actual lockdowns. I hate it. 😭😭
IMO many people who can (flexible work, PLENTY of money) are moving from the US before January or before 2024. Portugal, Spain, Switzerland have all seen huge influx of US immigrants. 200,000 to Switzerland in the past year.
Very Osbourne – the photographer caught the exact moment Ozzy is sipping and dog is having a wee in the background.
I agree, I think she could have legitimate reasons for wanting her kids to go to school in the UK. Plus, I think they had been in school in the UK while Lasso was filming, so it’s probably easy to compare school systems when you’ve been exposed to both.
Please go. Take Sharon and your talentless brats with you – except maybe Amy.
LA is an absolute hell hole these days, I would get out too.
Eh, I live in LA & I’ve seen worse. I’ll only say it will be bad if Caruso wins the mayoral race.
LA is not a “hell hole” by any means. Things have been greatly exaggerated in right-wing media.
As a LA local, my opinion is it *can* be really bad. Depends on where you live – but there are some really bad places. It’s not totally untrue.
As an LA local myself, I think things have been exaggerated greatly. I firmly stand by my statement that it is not a “hell hole”. There have always been “really bad places”, and there have always been areas that are worse than others.
I bet it has more to do with her racism costing her any new media jobs in the US. She can go to the UK and work with Piers. Good riddance.
I’d bet that’s the root of it too. He may mean the other stuff as well, but Sharon being unable to get hired is likely what kick started this.
Agreed. When she complains that the US isn’t united anymore, I read it as people not wanting to be associated with her racism.
That’s a dumb statement also. When has the US been “united”. There has always been dissension between different groups. Is everyone in the UK united on everything?
Don’t have much love for this family, but having lived in the States and the UK, I am glad we settled in the latter, for many reasons (strict gun laws, maternity pay and leave, the NHS, clearer separation of church and state, abortion rights etc etc). By no means saying the UK isn’t in a big ol mess, but weighing it up I can understand leaving the States if you have the means, despite the current administration.
Gun violence in the US didn’t start yesterday so what’s the real reason for leaving? I think it’s because they’re not welcomed in certain circles in the US. Sharon was exposed is a racist on TV and probably wants to be around people who wont pull her up on a racism. It seems logical that they would move back to the UK because the media over still gives platforms to racists.
Bye Ozzy. Be sure to take your racist, miserable wife. Maybe your daughter too.
I’m not side eying them for leaving now under Biden. Sharon had a job here until recently, and they’re smart enough to realize things are going to get worse here before they get better. I truly believe we haven’t seen the beginning of right wing extremist violence. I would leave to the U.K. immediately if I could.
Yeah, and they aren’t getting any younger. I think some folks had been holding out hope that once Tr*mp was gone, things would get better. While I do feel like my base-level mood is a little calmer, this is still a pretty terrible place to be. It wasn’t the huge cultural shift I had hoped that maybe it could be.
“I think some folks had been holding out hope that once Tr*mp was gone, things would get better” I know a liberal Brit who is planning to go home for just this reason. He literally said “You are as close to a civil war as you can be without fighting.”
And yeah, as you say, they want to go home in their later years – I dont know why anyone would doubt that or find it nefarious?
@Colby I think for me it’s because they have grandkids here & idk how often Jack is gonna be able to travel back to the UK to visit them. That’s what I found to be interesting even though I get sometimes people want to spend their last years where they’re from.
@Shai – I totally get that – But we dont really know how much he seems them now, maybe he doesnt see them much anyway? They’re rich enough to see the kids and grandkids all they want, even from England, IMO.
Weird he’s not heard about possible civil unrest due to the cost of living crisis in UK.
We’ve no guns, true… but we might be on our way to unrest much sooner than the States. Our bills are 215% more from October the 1st.
I live in the US and you have to be pretty delusional living here everyday and not think it’s an empire in (major) decline between exorbitant healthcare costs, crumbling infrastructure, waning influence, and gun violence. Of course, none of this started four years ago, but it is feeling a bit like the train has left the station and the current or next administration won’t be able to fix or stop it, especially with the pernicious influence social media has had on news, “news” and the way people consume information and disinformation.
This is so well put.
Yep. Britain’s pretty bad right now too, but not in ways that will impact someone who’s already very wealthy. Given the chance, I absolutely would live in London, though. It’s one of (or the most?) culturally diverse cities in the world, there’s something fascinating around every corner. It’s expensive, sure, but I already live in California. I’m used to living modestly.
I agree, these are very precarious times.
Learning Aimee is an anti-vaxxer makes me sad. She seemed normal and well-adjusted.
The California anti-vaxxers are so weird. They walk among us like normal people. And then bam! Someone slips up and says something outrageously stupid. You had no idea it was coming.
CA anti-vaxxers are the extreme end of the wellness movement (heal your body with manuka honey! Do more yoga! You dont need vaccines!) and the total lie that vaccines cause autism (pushed by Jenny McCarthy).
It’s not distrust of the government, MAGA lunacy as much as it is extreme narcissism that you know science better than scientists and childhood development professionals, which is RIGHT on brand for many wealthy Californians.
@Colby – Perfectly said! Pre-pandemic, I was in a seminar about vaccines because I work in higher ed administration. I was helping out with logistics after hours and I was interested in the topic. A contingent of private school moms marched in (how did they even hear about this??) and demanded we all pay attention to them as they railed on about the horrors of vaccines. They cried and yelled and basically acted like the panelists were the devil. But this wasn’t a school board meeting, you know? It was an academic seminar on the role of vaccines in modern society, completely uninvolved in policy making. But despite being rich and entitled, these weren’t people who would stand out at the local Whole Foods. You wouldn’t even know just from looking that they’d pull their kids out of well-funded, highly regarded public schools to avoid vaccine mandates.
Jenny McCarthy is now a cringy shill for one of those games that claims to pay out real money. Can’t remember if it’s a bingo game or a solitaire game or what, i just get nightmares from her overenthusiastic yelling with face filling the screen about how she just won $$$ again.
I keep seeing her ad when I try to earn bingo chips for Bingo Bash on my iPhone… (Each ad you view earns 4 chips, and I refuse to pay real money for any game so I rent my eyeballs instead.
According to the ads for all those payout games, people are becoming rich on them. According to real reviewers, wins typically slow down to a crawl just as they start coming close to the amount needed to actually cash out. Hmmm. Anyway, I keep wondering why Jenny would even need to play them if they were for real.
DO let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. Doubles for that racist bitter harridan you married.
Not that I think the US doesn’t have problems, we all know it does. But what specifically have Ozzy and Sharon done to make things better? Crickets, eh? So they should leave and let the adults get to work.
It’s very dark to say but I think he’d rather die in England. Sharon’s worked out everyone hates her, well not MAGAs but enough of the regulars.
I think they have the means to not actually be that worried about the craziness, I mean they supported the guy/s who gee’ed up the crazy so… they’re going home because they want to be in the UK in their final years. People are talking about the effects of Brexit and it sounds like the last place people should be wanting to go.
I sympathize with anyone jumping off the American ship, but the UK? lol Theyre in for a rude awakening
K. Bye.
Sorry to hear originator of teen mayhem rock was so traumatized by Las Vegas mass shooting 5 years ago that they’ve worked tirelessly to reduce gun violence in their adopted country – oh wait, I meant hightail it ‘home.’
S’all good. Will listen to Carrie Underwood country cover of Mama I’m Coming Home while I carry on, donating to Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action, etc.
I don’t get what is so controversial.
Is it true USA is in decline even after Trump? Yes.
Is gun violence a real problem, which started to be felt in absolutely every part of the society? Yes.
Like, if you asked any parent of he/she would rather live in a country where their children don’t have to go through gun violence safety exercises in school or in a country where there is no need for it. Why should rich older people be different?
I mean, I was to the USA three times-and while I had a great time, I declined my husband’s idea to go again, this time with kids-because I’m scared, tbh.ijust don’t feel it’s a safe country anymore.
It’s not just the school shootings. It doesn’t feel safe to just go to a grocery store. Pandora’s Box has been opened wide in recent years.
The feeling that it is getting worse and worse is not imaginary. Trump has really accelerated the dangers but we had them before as well. He normalized and encouraged the violence and hatreds but it always there. We have a lot of disturbed people and a lot of easily accessible guns and few mental health resources. Really bad combination.