The Real Reason Ozzy Osbourne Didn’t Like Being a Reality TV Star

Most Ozzy Osbourne fans know the late heavy metal icon for his work with Black Sabbath, the success of solo projects like The Blizzard Of Ozz, or his crazy antics on stage. But from 2002 to 2005, the Prince of Darkness decided to try his hand at another title: “reality TV Star.”

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During this period, Osbourne and his family starred in the MTV show The Osbournes, which gave fans insight into their daily lives. Although it might not have necessarily looked like it onscreen, Osbourne later revealed that being on the show actually took quite a toll on everyone.  

“It took all of us a long time to come down from the high of the show, the stress of it … to go from reality TV to actual reality again,” he shared in his memoir Last Rites. “When the final camera guy left, it was such a relief, man.”

By the time they were finishing up the show, Osbourne admitted that his kids, Jack and Kelly, were “on drugs” and that he had resorted to smoking weed. In 2002, his wife, Sharon Osbourne, was also diagnosed with colon cancer, which only multiplied stress.

In an interview with NME, Osbourne later shared that, although the show made the family incredibly successful, he wouldn’t do it again.

“I’m not upset that I did it, but I wouldn’t do it again,” he shared. “People were going: ‘Aren’t you worried about losing your fans?’ I said: ‘I’m not worried about losing my fans. I’m worried about losing my f***ing mind.’”

Osbourne Said He Got “Addicted to the Fame” of Reality TV

Also in Last Rites, Osbourne touched on how the fame that came with being on TV affected him personally.

“I got addicted to the fame for a while, if I’m being honest with you,” he wrote. “At the end of the day, though, I’m a singer, not a TV personality. I mean, I liked being in The Osbournes, but I hated working in TV. It’s a vipers’ nest, TV, it really is.”

He continued, “It’s not like being in music. You’ve got no friends in TV. The rivalry’s off the charts. Everyone just wants what you’ve got, it’s so phony all the time.”

Last summer, Ozzy Osbourne passed away after suffering from a heart attack in addition to various health complications. Fans gathered on July 30 for a funeral procession in the streets of Birmingham to honor the legend.

Photo by: Kevin Mazur/WireImage