Rocker Ozzy Osbourne, 71, came clear with his health condition and announced he has a mild form Parkinson’s Disease, saying 2019 was the most miserable year of his life.
“It has been terribly challenging for us,” Osbourne said in an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America on Tuesday. “I did my last show [on] New Year’s Eve (2018). Then I had a bad fall. I had to have surgery on my neck, which screwed all my nerves. I found out that I have a mild form of”
“It’s Parkin 2, which is a form of Parkinson’s,” his wife Sharon added. “There are so many different types of Parkinson’s.”
“It’s not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination,” Sharon added. “But it does affect certain nerves in your body. It’s like you’ll have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day.”
Ozzy continued: “A year ago, I was in a terrible state. I’m on a host of medication, mainly for the surgery.”
“I’ve got numbness down this arm, and my legs are going cold. I don’t know if it’s the Parkinson’s or what. That’s the problem.”
Luckily, Osbourne has the support of his family, his wife Sharon and his children Jack and Kelly. “The hardest thing is watching somebody that you love suffer,” Kelly said.
“They’re my air, you know,” he said. “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.”
To the former lead singer of the metal band Black Sabbath and reality TV actor said it was a relief to come clear with his physical condition. He had canceled four concerts last year and felt it was time he “owned up” to his condition.
“I’m no good with secrets” he said. “I cannot walk around with it anymore ’cause it’s like I’m running out of excuses, you know?”
“When I had the fall, it was pitch black,” he said. “I went to the bathroom, and I fell,” Osbourne said of the mishap of February last year.
Osbourne said he “just fell and landed like a slam on the floor.”
“I remember lying there thinking, ‘Well, you’ve done it now.’ Really calm,” he said. “Sharon got me an ambulance. After that, it was all downhill.”
“Next month, a year,” Osbourne said, “Worst, longest, most painful, miserable year of my life.”
There’s been plenty of speculation about the musician’s health since he postponed his concert dates last year.
According to Roberts, Osbourne wanted to go public with his struggles given recent headlines that he was in failing health and “on his deathbed.”
The CNN Wire contributed to this report.
