Sad news came on Tuesday that Ozzy Osbourne passed away at the age of 76. As the world mourns his incredible legacy, stories have begun to resurface about his love and dedication to his family, especially his wife, Sharon Osbourne.
Like Ozzy was throughout his life, Sharon is a survivor. In 2002, she was battling colon cancer and had hit a wall during the draining and nightmarish experience that is chemo.
She hadn’t gotten out of bed in "like a week," and was sitting in a pitch black room. Her hair was falling out, and she was ready to stop chemo. “Mom was lying in this bedroom that she had curtained off," their daughter Kelly Osbourne recalled on The Osbournes podcast in 2018. "Mom’s dog had to go to the hospital because she was dehydrated. Mom was dehydrated. And we couldn’t get her to go back to finish the chemo.”
That’s when The Prince of Darkness decided to bring in some light. “Dad said laughter is the best medicine,” Kelly said. So he called someone who truly embodied it: Robin Williams. Ozzy "organised for Robin to come over and make Mom laugh," she explained.
Robin didn’t hesitate and "dropped everything." Kelly said he came over to the house and got in bed with her mom. "I just remember sitting at the bottom of the stairs and we went from crying, not knowing what to do, to peeing ourselves laughing because we could hear Mom upstairs in her room laughing with Robin," she recalled. "The next day it changed everything and Mom went back to chemo.”
Sharon became cancer-free after months of treatment and chose to have a double mastectomy in 2012 to lower her chance of getting cancer again. She and Ozzy recalled the special moment with Williams in 2024 on The Osbournes podcast.
"When Sharon was sick with cancer, I felt bad about leaving her just in the house, so I asked Robin Williams if he'd come and see her," he recalled. Looking back on the meeting, she said she was "aw of his talent and his kindness."
Sharon said he got into bed with her and told jokes for a couple of hours. "It wasn't just like he popped his head around the door [and said] 'Hi, how are you doing?' and left. It was a good two hours with me, and he was amazing."
Williams would sadly go on to die by suicide at age 63 in 2014. The story is touching, and now, with Ozzy’s passing, it hits even harder. Despite the drama and scandals in their past, he had a deep love for Sharon.
Ozzy passed away on July 22 following his 2019 diagnosis with Parkinson's disease and "was with his family and surrounded by love," according to the family's statement. As the aftermath of his death unfolds and stories with wild headlines make their rounds, it's sweet stories like these that we should try to remember him by, as those closest to him mourn.