Ozzy Osbourne Discusses Mistakes, Marriage & How Sobering Up Made Him Realize 'What a F---ing Idiot I've Been'

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Ozzy Osbourne expresses how grateful he is that his wife Sharon had not walked out on him when he was a “crazy f---er.” He lightens the mood by rephrasing his iconic response to infidelity allegations, joking, “Don’t get caught with your mistress,” before describing how hindsight and sobriety have given him a clear picture of his more wild days.

“When I said, 'Don't get caught by your missus,' I'm not proud of all that shit," he told the magazine. "I upset my wife and I upset my family, and I made a lot of shock and shame. I love my wife, and it made me realize what a fucking idiot I've been.”

Osbourne credits love and forgiveness for keeping the family together, even after his brief three month split with Sharon in 2016. He maintains realistic expectations of a long life with someone in the music industry and expresses confusion with those who claim perfection with their relationships. “You make a mistake and you learn by it. She's made a few mistakes, and so have I,” Osbourne admitted. “You know when you hear these people go, ‘Oh, we've been married 35 years and we've never had a row.’ I go, ‘You must have been living in a different fucking country.’ Sometimes, I've looked at my wife and I've just been angry as fuck, and vice versa. Other times, I go, ‘Fuck, I love you.’”

As he owns up to acting as “an extra delinquent child” for Sharon, he admits to not being as much of a dad as he could have been. He realized his own ego during a fight with his son Jack, asking him, “What the fuck have you ever wanted in your life?” only to be hit with Jack’s blunt response, “A father.”

Osbourne goes on to discuss continuing his solo career as the other members of Black Sabbath have moved on from the music industry, as well as his disappointment in the electronic age of music. Despite his disenchantment with the fall of record sales, his love for music still lives on. “It’s what I live for. If it wasn’t for music, I’d probably be dead.”