Ozzy Osbourne ProfileSharon Osbourne has revealed that doctors warned her, Ozzy Osbourne, and their family that his performing at Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning concert would “kill” him.
However, Ozzy, the consummate performer and devotee of heavy metal, insisted he wanted to perform. Sharon shared the news in a recent interview with Rolling Stone.
“He was in hospital in America before he left,” she said. “We moved back to England, and we had a whole new team of doctors. His new doctors didn’t want to take doctor’s notes from America. They wanted to make their own assessment on him. He was in hospital for a week in England.”
She continued, “After he came out of hospital, they asked for a meeting, and they came to our house. We had six different doctors and, like, a quarterback, because there were all of these specialists for the heart, for Parkinson’s, for his lungs, because of all the different things that were wrong with him.”
Sharon explained that despite being advised not to perform, Ozzy said it was “not an option” and knew he was dying but wanted to go out after performing on stage.
“They advised us not to do the show,” Sharon admitted. “They said it would kill him. We were all together, and Ozzy said, ‘It’s not an option. It’s what I want.’
“He said, ‘I know I’m dying. If I miss a few months of my life, I want to go this way. This is what I want.’ It was his wishes, and we went through it. He said to me, ‘Another six months, what’s it going to do for me?’
“He was very, very emotional,” Sharon said. “But you know what? It was beautiful too. It was amazing. How lucky was he to go out that way? I say he went out like a Viking.”
Ozzy Osbourne passed away on 22 July 2025, aged 76, just 17 days after he took the stage at Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning concert. His primary cause of death was ruled as a heart attack and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease were listed as associated factors.
Back to the Beginning was billed as Black Sabbath’s, and, by extension, Ozzy Osbourne’s, final concert.
It took place in the band’s home city of Birmingham on Saturday, 5 July, at Villa Park and saw them joined by a who’s who of heavy metal icons, including Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Anthrax, Lamb Of God, Halestorm, Mastodon, Gojira, Slash, Tom Morello, and more.
All proceeds from the show went to three charities: Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice, a Children’s Hospice supported by the Aston Villa football team.
A shortened film capturing the concert’s highlights hits cinemas later this month.
