As the world bids farewell to Ozzy Osbourne – a rock icon, heavy metal pioneer, and the front man of Black Sabbath, stories from his past have resurfaced. In some of his interviews, Ozzy had spoken about his turbulent past and his dark phases. The 76-year-old singer, who passed away on Tuesday morning, was known not just for his musical genius, but he had spoken about his addiction in order to also spread awareness around it. One particularly disturbing incident, which he himself described as a turning point in his life as it made him realise his dependency on drugs, was when he spoke about the tragic killing of his family cats.
In an interview during the early 1980s, he said that at the height of his substance abuse, he killed all 17 of the family’s cats. He opened up during a chat with Guitar Legends, “I was taking drugs so much I was a wreck.” He added, “The final straw came when I shot all our cats. We had about 17, and I went crazy and shot them all. My wife found me under the piano in a white suit, a shotgun in one hand and a knife in the other.” The incident reportedly occurred around the time of his split from his first wife, Thelma Riley, and just after he married Sharon Osbourne, his partner of over four decades. Sharon, who was not at home during the episode, returned to find a deeply disturbed Ozzy, still holding the weapons under the piano. This horrifying moment became a wake-up call in his life, as it was one of his lowest, most vulnerable moments in his long struggle with drugs and alcohol. Osbourne was not new to controversy. A feature in Rolling Stone, from 2000 pointed out a number of similarly unsettling episodes. He had reportedly “shot up a henhouse full of chickens,” “snorted a line of ants like they were a line of cocaine,” and infamously “bitten the head off a bat.” The article also described his chaotic stage performances during the Diary of a Madman tour, where fans would throw live animals such as cats, snakes, frogs, and chickens onstage—some of which tragically died. The feature further mentioned that Ozzy hurled raw animal organs, including cow livers and pig intestines, back into the audience. While these events are difficult to digest, they form part of the complex and troubled legacy of a man whose life was both extraordinary and haunted. As fans remember Ozzy Osbourne for his music, influence, and unique personality, his battles with addiction serve as a reminder of the heavy price of fame and the importance of confronting one’s demons before they consume everything. Thus, the audience must just learn from his life, while remembering the legend for his extra-ordinary contribution as a performer.
