Ozzy Osbourne was one of the many rock gods of the 1970s to the 1980s who truly lived the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle to the fullest.
Today, the legend, famed for his prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, turns 72 years old and now lives a much calmer life as he battles Parkinson’s disease.
The star, who adopted the nickname “Prince of Darkness” and is married to Sharon Osbourne, has always been open about his life full of drugs and alcohol.
So, it’s not surprise that as one of the biggest rockstars of our time, he has done some crazy stuff. Here’s the most shocking…
He snorted ants
British musician Ozzy Osbourne performs with Black Sabbath on stage at John F. Kennedy Stadium for the Live Aid Concert, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 13, 1985 (Image: Getty Images)
In a new documentary about Ozzy called The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne, it recalls a day where he sniffed ants like a drug.
It recalls how Ozzy did the bizarre action while chilling by a poolside bar with Mötley Crüe when they toured together in 1984.
In Crue’s book The Dirt, the band claims that the singer was disappointed that they didn’t have any cocaine so sniffed up some ants up his nose instead.
When asked on if it were true, Ozzy replied on a red carpet: “Is it true that I snorted a line of ants? It’s incredibly possible. Do I remember it? No.”
Oz almost crushed a guy with a TV
Bassist Nikki Sixx, lead singer Vince Neil, lead guitarist Mick Mars and drummer Tommy Lee of the American hard rock band Motley Crue pose for a studio portrait with Ozzy Osbourne during Ozzy’s Bark at the Moon Tour on March 6, 1984 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan (Image: Getty Images)
In true rockstar fashion, he once threw a TV out of a hotel window. What could be more rock ‘n’ roll than that?
Whilst staying in The Four Seasons with guitarist Zakk Wylde, a very bored Ozzy decided to get up to no good.
He came up with the idea to throw the TV out of the window without a second thought.
But as he threw it out of the window the pair realised a smoker was standing underneath and was just inches from being hit by the high impact TV, which could have caused him serious harm or worse, killed him.
Ozzy was ordered to replace the TV and had to pay three months’ worth of time for the room which added up to over £40,000 in damages.
He bit a bat’s head off on stage
Ozzy famously bit the head off of a bat on stage (Image: Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
One of his arguably craziest moments was when he bit the head off of a bat during a concert in 1982.
Ozzy bit the head clean off the animal after a fan chucked the bat on the stage.
Recalling the incident years later in his book I Am Ozzy, he said: “Immediately, though, something felt wrong. Very wrong.
“For a start, my mouth was instantly full of this warm, gloopy liquid, with the worst aftertaste you could ever imagine.
“I could feel it staining my teeth and running down my chin.
“Then the head in my mouth twitched. ‘Oh f**k me’, I thought. ‘I didn’t just go and eat a f*****g bat, did I?'”
As a precaution he was taken and treated for rabies as soon as his concert ended.
Arrested and convicted for burglary
Ozzy was arrested and convicted for burglary before he found fame (Image: Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Even before he went on to become a bit of a famous bad boy he was causing chaos.
The star graduated high school at age 15 and before he turned 18 he had been arrested and convicted of burglary.
Ozzy’s father refused to pay the fine and therefore the future star was sentenced to three months in prison.
Speaking on the crime years later in The Big Issue, Ozzy said he was “f*****g useless” at burglary.
He told the publication that as a struggling teen he tried to find things he was good at – burglary was one of those attempts.
Ozzy said: “I tried a bit of burglary but I was no good at that. F*****g useless. I didn’t do any major burglary jobs.
“It was less than three weeks before I got caught.”
He continued: “My dad said to me, that was very stupid. And I did feel very stupid.
“I didn’t pay my fine and I got put in jail for a few weeks. That was a short, sharp lesson. It certainly curbed my career in burglary.”
Drink driving pregnant wife to hospital
Ozzy has always been open about the times he has driven drunk (Image: Getty Images)
Ozzy has confessed that he has driven drunk once and he spoke about it in his book This Is Ozzy.
He even got behind the wheel drunk to drive his first wife Thelma Riley to the hospital whilst she was in labour in 1972.
Ozzy, who didn’t possess a licence at the time, became a father later that day to his daughter Jessica.
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine he was asked if he could remember when his daughter Jessica was born – her birthday is January 20, 1972.
“I think it was 1971? 72? I really don’t know. I’ll find out for you,” he said.
He also bit the head clean off a dove
The now family man once bit the head off of a dove (Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
If you thought he’d only bit the head off one animal, you were wrong.
In 1981 during a meeting with CBS Records Brass he left witnesses shocked after he bit the head off of a white dove.
According to Ozzy in his autobiography I Am Ozzy, he said that wasn’t actually the original plan.
Instead, to impress the records company he was going to release two white doves and flash the peace sign but instead it went a very different way.
The star said he got “p***ed off” waiting for wife Sharon’s cue and bit the head off the bird and spat it at a nearby publicist.
In Ozzy’s documentary, Sharon says: “The [boss] of legal said, ‘If you ever do that again, we will absolutely destroy you’.”
Ozzy tried to kill his beloved Sharon
Ozzy often says Sharon is the best thing to ever happen to him (Image: FilmMagic)
At the height of his addiction to drugs and alcohol Ozzy was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder against his wife Sharon.
Sharon recalled in the documentary The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne how the pair were home enjoying an otherwise nice evening in sitting on the sofa when Ozzy turned suddenly cold.
She recalled that he calming told her: “We’ve come to a decision that you’ve got to die.”
“He dived on me and started to choke me. I felt for stuff on the table, found the panic button and pressed it,” Sharon says in the doc.
“All of a sudden, the cops were here. It was probably the most frightened that I’d ever been.”
Ozzy got hauled off to jail and claimed to have no recollection of the assault.
Sharon dropped the charges and says that she told her husband: “If you do that again, either you’re going to kill me or I’m going to kill you. And is that what you want for the kids?”
Ozzy went to rehab for six months and says he is sober to this day.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
