Ozzy Osbourne Talks Sobriety

"I hear all the time people say that they have another drink in them but they may not have another sobriety in them. I don’t want to put myself in that situation."

As the lead singer of Black Sabbath and as a solo artist, Ozzy Osbourne is a legend of heavy metal. He’s also infamous for his loony rock star behavior, along with his well-documented addictions to alcohol and drugs. As Black Sabbath wind their way through their final tour, and as Ozzy launches his latest TV series, Ozzy & Jack's World Detour (this time for the History Channel), Osbourne spoke candidly to Goldmine about his struggles with staying sober.

Osbourne claims he’s getting close to three years sober, and that he’s “reached a really weird place with it. I am not really happy being sober, but I don’t want to get drunk. Someone told me that at three years sober they felt exactly the same.”

Osbourne has reportedly been attending meetings, where he says, “you’re never alone with your thoughts. My disease will go, ‘You can take this, or you can do this’ when I spend too much time alone with my thoughts … I hear all the time people say that they have another drink in them but they may not have another sobriety in them. I don’t want to put myself in that situation.”

He said in a 2014 interview, “I don’t like going to the meetings, but if I don’t go, I know I will drink again.”

Ozzy said that he doesn’t regret his past drug abuse “because it was my destiny. I am lucky enough to have seen the errors of my way and wanted to do something about it … To be honest with you, I will think to myself, ‘What the fuck was wrong with me when I thought a good night was getting a belly full of booze and bag of fucking cocaine?' … When we discovered that fucking marching powder, it was beginning of the end.”

While Osbourne is aware that he is a hero to many fans, he added somberly, “I wish I was a hero to me, sometimes. I do a good job of beating myself up.” When asked how Black Sabbath will celebrate their very last gig, he said, “We will have a grin on our face. We will probably shake hands and have a cup of tea. None of us drink anymore. None of us do drugs.”