Noisey has uploaded the first of three “Back & Forth” videos featuring legendary BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne and his son Jack Osbourne. Check it out below.
Asked what advice he would give to his 21-year-old self, Ozzy said: “Don’t do drugs. [But I would tell a 30-year old Ozzy] take more drugs. [Laughs]”
He continued: “I did what I did when I was 21 and I did what I did when I was 30. But now, I feel better today than I’ve done in a long time. I’m 66.
“I work out, I exercise a lot, I go for regular physicals. Call me a hypochondriac, and I don’t care. I don’t smoke anymore, I don’t do drugs anymore, I don’t drink booze anymore. And I think that says a lot for why I’m [still] here. There’s no mysterious hex from Satan…
“To be honest, I really love being sober. People who never smoked pot in their lives think, at my age, a joint wouldn’t hurt. But it’s the other way around. I’ve been doing dope and booze since I was about 14. To be clear-headed, and be okay with being okay.”
Osbourne recently cleared up a long-standing rumor that his 2012 relapse was caused by news that his BLACK SABBATH bandmate Tony Iommi had cancer. Osbourne told the Daily Mail, “There was no reason except that I’m an alcoholic and one day you just look outside, it’s a sunny day and you know nothing is going to come between you and a beer, and then you go right down the mad slide and you’re crawling around on the floor wishing you didn’t have to watch another sunrise… But if you take cocaine, you can drink forever. Cocaine and booze are the eggs and bacon of the addict’s world, the perfect combination. And you just can’t stop.”
Osbourne eventually overcame his demons but he had to watch his children stumble down the same path. He explained that he was too busy dealing with his addiction to help his kids. The rocker said, “At the time I didn’t think anything, because I was off my head as well. During the MTV filming of ‘The Osbournes’ show, I was drinking non-stop. I was in my mad world and [Ozzy‘s wife and manager] Sharon had to be the mum and the dad and deal with all of that.”
He added, “I remember having a go at Jack, saying: ‘Why? Why do it? You’ve never had to work, you’ve never had to worry, you’ve never had to want for anything.’ And he said to me: ‘Try wanting a father.’ That’s why I know I have to stay sober. And Jack‘s got 11 years’ sobriety, Kelly‘s doing well. I’ve got good kids.”
Osbourne still attends AA meetings to stay sober. He said, “Sharon tells me I’m a bloody fool and screams at me when I’m drinking, but that doesn’t stop me… But she supports me, she knows it’s an illness, she knows it’s part of who I am and it’s only me who can deal with it and it’s because I don’t want to lose what I have with Sharon and the kids that I do it. No one else can cure an addict but the addict.”
Source: Blabbermouth
