10 highlights from the family life of the great and terrible Ozzy Osbourne

On this day, December 3, in Birmingham, UK, the great and terrible Ozzy Osbourne was born. The permanent leader of the Black Sabbath band, a loving father and husband, a style icon for Satanists and quite a successful showman. This multifaceted personality is celebrating his 69th birthday today. And half of his life — 34 years — Ozzy, whose real name is John Michael Osborne, lived with his wife Sharon. Now, they say, this one of the longest marriages among celebrities is bursting at the seams, but this is not a reason not to appreciate him as a family man on the birthday of such a human being.

1. Sharon and Ozzy with identical hairstyles in 1978.

Sharon met her future husband Ozzy at the age of 18 while working for her father Don Arden, who at that time was the manager of the band Black Sabbath. When Ozzy was fired from the band in 1979, Sharon started dating him and took his music career into her own hands. Three years later, on July 4, 1982, Ozzy and Sharon got married in Maui, Hawaii.

2. Ozzy and Sharon on Halloween in 1986.

The couple has three children: Amy (born 1983), Kelly (born 1984) and Jack (born 1985).

3. At home with their kids — daughters Amy and Kelly and son Jack — in 1986.

4. Ah, this family life! 1989.

"When we got married, friends made a bet — how many weeks our marriage would last. And we surprised everyone!"

5. A surprisingly ordinary family portrait from the early 90s.

In his autobiography, "I am Ozzy," Osborne openly writes about his long—term struggle with alcoholism. According to the singer, he began abusing alcohol from about the age of eighteen, and by the age of forty he became a chronic alcoholic who drank three or four bottles of strong alcohol (vodka or cognac) a day. He repeatedly tried to get rid of his addiction by going to various rehabilitation centers (including the Betty Ford Clinic), was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, but periods of sobriety were replaced by binge drinking. During treatment for alcoholism, he also became addicted to medications (vicodin, valium, etc.). Osborne finally stopped drinking and abusing medications only in the middle of the two thousandth years.

6. In the photo — the whole family (not counting Amy). The Osbournes allowed the cameramen to place cameras all over the house, because in 2002 the popular TV show "The Osbournes" began.

On May 19, 2002, the documentary television series The Osbournes about Ozzy Osbourne and his family began to be shown on MTV in England and Ireland.

In form, this film was a staged and real shooting of the life of the characters of the "Osborne family", filled with everyday troubles and joys. There was a carefully concealed scenario (in the last episode of the last season, you can see how the signs with the words are held). The Ozzy family appeared like the Simpsons family. According to Ozzy himself, "one ether destroyed millions of fantasies," because the "godfather of metal" appeared as a henpecked husband and a wayward dad who could not cope with offspring.

7. In the same year, Sharon was diagnosed with a terrible cancer, but she insisted that the filming of the show continue.

In July 2002, Osborne was diagnosed with colon cancer. She later admitted that the tumor had spread to the lymph nodes and was becoming more dangerous than originally thought. However, she insisted on continuing filming the show "The Osborne Family". She managed to beat cancer, although her survival prognosis was less than 40%.

8. On the Jay Leno Show in 2002, during a discussion that Sharon decided to launch her own TV show, The Sharon Osbourne Show.

In 2003, Sharon created her own talk show, The Sharon Osbourne Show, which was broadcast on several US channels, as well as on the British channel Sky One. However, the show's ratings were not successful, and Osbourne was sharply criticized for failing to perform the basic tasks required in a talk show. The show was closed in early 2004 after showing one season.

9. By 2003, The Osbournes were collecting the highest ratings on MTV, both in American and British. The last episode of the show was broadcast in the United States on March 21, 2005.

In 2005, Sharon Osbourne released an autobiographical book, co-authored by Penelope Dening. The book was called "Extreme, or My Autobiography", and it told about Sharon's difficult childhood, her ups, downs and personal life. The book became a worldwide bestseller and sold more than 621,000 copies in 15 weeks.

10. Ozzy with his overly serious teenage children, a smiling wife and an American Music Award.

The couple almost divorced after Sharon Osbourne found out on the eve of their 30th anniversary of family life that her husband repeatedly used drugs and alcohol, although he stopped these bad habits about seven years ago. The couple stopped communicating and separated, but weeks later they began to live together again with the condition that Ozzy would join the Alcoholics Anonymous group and undergo therapy. This and other stories of the star couple are presented in Osborne's book Unbreakable.