Ozzy Osbourne Reveals Parkinson’s Disease Battle, Health Struggles

There have been a ton of rumors about the health of rock icon Ozzy Osbourne scattered across the Internet and tabloids over the last year or so. After a surgery and the cancellation of a world tour, some reports suggested that Osbourne could perhaps be on his death bed. The rocker recently sat down with Good Morning America‘s Robin Roberts to set the record straight about his health struggles. Ozzy is very much alive, as he noted in the interview, but he did reveal to the world that he has been diagnosed with a form of Parkinson’s disease.

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

“A year ago next month I was in a shocking state,” he continued. “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.”

Osbourne’s wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, elaborated on the specifics of the disease.

“It’s PRKN 2,” 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. And it’s — it’s like you have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day.”

The thing is, as Ozzy said before, it’s very hard for doctors to go, ‘Well this is your injury from your fall, and this is what comes with PRKN 2,’” added Sharon. “And 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 professor in Switzerland, and he deals with getting your immune system at its peak. We’re going to go wherever we can go to seek answers.”

When asked what he’d like to say to his fans, Ozzy admitted that he’s glad to get this diagnosis out in the open, and that he hopes those who love his music will continue to support him.

“I feel better now that I’ve owned up to the fact that I have a case of Parkinson’s and I just hope that they hang on there for me, because I need them,” he said. “I just can’t wait to get about and get back on the road again. That’s killing me. I need it, you know. That’s my drug today. I’ve done all the other crap, left that by the wayside and survived that. I ain’t done yet. I ain’t gonna go anywhere yet.”