Jack Osbourne has taken to YouTube to discuss his feelings following the death of his father Ozzy.
The heavy metal pioneer frontman died on July 22 at age 76. In a statement, his family shared that he was “surrounded by love” at the time of his passing. His death came just weeks after he played a final live show in his hometown of Birmingham with Black Sabbath. Numerous musicians have paid homage to the legend.
On Wednesday (September 3), Jack took to his YouTube channel to address viewers, saying that he had waited until now to speak as he was trying to “find a way to digest what’s happened.”
He explained than Ozzy passed away in his home in the UK at 10am on July 22, while Jack was in LA. He then recalled that he had “hung out for a week” with Ozzy and Sharon after Black Sabbath’s farewell gig on July 5. Originally, he and his family were scheduled to go on holiday on July 7, but his children caught a stomach virus and so he remained with his parents.
“It was a really amazing week” he said of the time. “My dad was in an amazing mood. He was really happy every day. He was opening up the newspaper and seeing different reviews and different stories from the Back To The Beginning show and it was it was great… I look back on that now and I’m so grateful.”
He then recalled hearing about Ozzy’s passing when he was back in Los Angeles, when a family employee woke him up at 3:45am. Describing his feelings of “pain” and “sadness”, he added: “there was a level of like ‘okay he’s not suffering anymore, he’s not struggling, and that is something’.”
He explained that his father was having a “rough go” toward the end of his life, but that his death was unexpected, and rumours of him planning to travel to Switzerland to end his life were “categorically untrue and ridiculous”.
He would later pay tribute to his father, as well as reflecting on the events that led up to his passing. “One thing that has kind of stuck with me about my father’s exit was how there is almost a perfection to it” he said. “He got to say goodbye in such a profound way. He got to thank his fans. He got to see his friends he hadn’t seen in such a long time. He got to perform. I mean, there was so much accomplished before the full stop.”
There was an outpouring of affection upon Ozzy’s death, particularly in his hometown of Birmingham where thousands of people lined the streets to pay tribute to his funeral procession. “We saw it all” he said of the public condolences. “We read all the letters. It didn’t go unnoticed” he said. “It was validating because I know we weren’t alone.”
Jack then revealed that there will be more comments from the family in the future. “There’ll come a time, I think, where you’ll hear from us as a family together” he said. “We’ll talk about things in more details. I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to share a lot of the personal stuff. The deeply intimate parts of my father’s passing and funeral. I wouldn’t do that without my family present.”
He then said the reason for his video was to thank people for their messages, and that the family is “hanging in there”. He ended by saying: “Ozzy Osbourne does not end because he passed away on July 22. He’s just exploding through the universe and we’re all seeing it.”
This week, Jack Osbourne hit back at negative comments about Ozzy made by Roger Waters, saying: “My father always thought you were a c*nt – thanks for proving him right.” His sister Kelly also criticised WWE wrestler Becky Lynch for making a joke about his death at a show in Birmingham.
