Ozzy Osbourne reveals Parkinson's diagnosis

Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne revealed Tuesday that he has Parkinson's disease.

In an interview with Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America," Osbourne and his wife and manager, Sharon, said the rocker was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disorder last February.

"It's been terribly challenging for us all. I did my last show New Year's Eve at The Forum," Osbourne, 71, said referring to his Dec. 31, 2018 show in Los Angeles. "Then I had a bad fall. I had to have surgery on my neck, which screwed all my nerves."

Osbourne was also hospitalized in February following complications from the flu, his wife said at the time.

Sharon Osbourne said her husband has stage 2 Parkinson's. "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," Sharon said. "And it's, it's like you have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day."

In November, Osbourne announced that his "NO MORE TOURS 2" tour, which was originally scheduled to begin this month, would be pushed back to October.

"I can't wait to get off my ass and get going again, but you're just going to have to be a bit more patient," Osbourne said in a statement at the time. "I want to be 100 percent ready to come out and knock your f------g socks off."
Osbourne, from England, gained fame in the 1970s as the lead singer of Black Sabbath. During his time with the heavy metal band, he became known as "The Prince of Darkness."

Drug and alcohol abuse got him fired from the band in 1979, but he became successful on his own, releasing nearly a dozen albums, and shocking fans with stunts like biting the heads off living creatures, like a bat and a dove.

Osbourne has reunited with Black Sabbath on several occasions, frequently at Ozzfest, a heavy metal and hard rock festival he founded with Sharon.

Osbourne and Sharon married in 1982. The couple has three children, two of whom, Kelly and Jack, appeared with their parents on the MTV reality show, "The Osbournes," which ran from 2002 to 2005. Osbourne also has three children from a previous marriage.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/ozzy-osbourne-reveals-parkinson-s-diagnosis-n1119041