Cliff Notes – Inside Ozzy Osbourne’s tumultuous family life including his two absent children
- Ozzy Osbourne’s death announcement notably excluded his eldest daughter, Jessica, and adopted son, Elliot, highlighting potential family rifts amidst his legacy as a family man in later years.
- Despite his fame, Ozzy openly expressed regret over his past as an absent father, attributing his struggles with addiction to his failures in family life.
- His tumultuous relationships, particularly with his first wife Thelma and second wife Sharon, reveal a complex personal history marked by addiction, violence, and eventual redemption through family connections.
Inside Ozzy Osbourne’s tumultuous family life including his two absent children
Ozzy Osbourne had six children, but his eldest Jessica and an adopted son called Elliot were absent from his death announcement (Picture: John Higgins/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
Ozzy Osbourne, who died on Tuesday morning aged 76, was known for his family life in later years as much as he was for being Black Sabbath’s Prince of Darkness, after his trailblazing reality tv show The Osbournes.
The music legend’s wife Sharon Osbourne and four out of his six kids confirmed his death in a statement yesterday, assuring fans he was with them in his final moments.
‘It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love.
‘We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.
‘Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.’
While he died a family man, Ozzy wasn’t always as proud of his personal life, as addiction took hold of him for many years.
In a 2014 interview with The Daily Mail, Ozzy said his greatest regrets were related to his family.
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne’s most well-known children are Kelly and Jack Osbourne, after they starred on 2000s reality TV show The Osbournes. But the pair have another child called Aimee, and Ozzy has three older children from a previous marriage (Picture: Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
‘The way I treated both my wives… I was a bad father, an abusive husband and I had an ego the size of India,’ he said.
‘I spent decades of my life being an absolute idiot. I’ve got so many regrets I can’t even remember half of them. But wives and kids are right at the top. It’s pointless even saying sorry. I couldn’t say it enough times. All I can do is stay sober.’
Ozzy’s first marriage to Thelma Riley he called a ‘terrible mistake’
Ozzy’s family life started before Sharon, when the rocker frontman married his first wife Thelma Riley in 1971, when she was 18 and he was navigating the world of rock n’ roll.
Together they welcomed Jessica – who was absent from the death announcement – and Louis.
Ozzy also adopted Elliot, Thelma’s son from a previous relationship, who also did not sign off the statement.
He would later welcome Aimee, Kelly and Jack with Sharon Osbourne.
Reflecting on their marriage years later in his 2009 autobiography I Am Ozzy, the rocker recalled how he and Thelma met in the Rum Runner nightclub while she was working as a waitress.
Ozzy and Thelma Riley were married for over a decade before Sharon, and the pair welcomed Jessica and Louis. Ozzy also adopted Elliot (standing on the right), who was Thelma’s son from a previous relationship (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)
‘She was beautiful and I wanted to talk to her,’ he wrote. ‘I pulled her on the dance floor.’
Ozzy continued: ‘A year or so later, in 1971, we got married in a registry office. I thought it was what you did: get some dough, find a chick, get married, settle down, go to the pub.’
According to reports, Ozzy went on in his autobiography to call it ‘a terrible mistake’ and admitted, ‘I put her through hell’.
He reportedly added: ‘I was a very selfish young man, full of drink and drugs, and I didn’t know how to be a husband or a father.’
Thelma, thought to have survived him aged 71, has kept out of the public eye following their tumultuous marriage and reportedly went on to work as a teacher.
Ozzy tried to kill Sharon Osbourne in 1989
Sharon and Osbourne tied the knot in Hawaii on July 4, 1982 having met in the 70s when her dad was Black Sabbath’s manager.
In 1979, Sharon’s father fired Ozzy from the band due to substance issues.
After months in a hotel using drugs, Sharon stepped in and helped him recover, later becoming his manager.
The pair celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary just weeks before Osbourne’s death.
Sharon told AXS TV she was 18 when they met.
This picture captures Sharon in 1989, the year Ozzy tried to murder her while high on drugs (Picture: Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
Aimee Osbourne – sitting in the middle of this picture – opted out of The Osbournes TV show. She left home at 16 when they began filming in their home (Picture: Mtv/Kobal/Shutterstock)
‘We were working together and it just became something else,’ she said.
She added: ‘He was so funny and quick-witted yet very vulnerable. And I just thought he was the funniest, sweetest guy I’d ever met because he was so vulnerable about everything, and that just attracted me to him.’
The TV personality also admitted: ‘It was tough because Ozzy was married and had two children.’
Sharon previously claimed that Thelma didn’t divorce Osbourne because of his affair with Sharon, but because of his alcohol abuse.
Ozzy previously credited Sharon for saving his life.
Truly, without my wife at my side, I wouldn’t be here, without any doubt,’ he told Australian music guru Billy Pinnell.
‘I wouldn’t be alive, I wouldn’t be singing,’ he said. ‘She saved my life every day.’
Aimee is now a musician, but doesn’t appear to have a relationship with her siblings Jack and Kelly (Picture: Eddie Sanderson/Getty Images).
In 1989 Ozzy woke up in jail under suspicion of attempted murder with no memory of having tried to strangle Sharon the night before. Sharon dropped charges, explaining how she didn’t recognise her husband in his drug-fuelled state.
According to The Sun on Sunday, Sharon said: ‘I had no idea who was sat across from me on the sofa but it wasn’t my husband. He goes to a stage where he gets that look in his eyes, the shutters were down and I just couldn’t get through to him.
‘And he just said, “We’ve come to a decision that you’ve got to die”.
‘He was calm – very calm – then suddenly he lunged across at me and just dived on me and started to choke me.
‘He got me down on the ground on top of me and I was feeling for stuff on the table. I felt the panic button and I just pressed it and the next thing I know, the cops were there.’
Ozzy Osbourne’s eldest children said he was an absent father
In a 2011 documentary God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, Louis, now in his 50s, recalled that he wasn’t a present father, and was often addled with drink and drugs.
‘When he was around and he wasn’t [drunk], he was a great father. But that was kind of seldom, really.
Jessica and Louis previously revealed how Ozzy was an absent and often intoxicated father (Picture: Staff/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
‘I just have a lot of memories of him being drunk, random sh*t like driving cars across fields and crashing them in the middle of the night and stuff like that. It’s not good for family life, really,’ he said.
Jessica added: ‘I don’t remember being put to bed or having a bath by dad or anything like that. I wouldn’t say he was there for us, no, never on sports day, school trip, parents’ evening. He wasn’t like that, no.’
Louis Osbourne was ‘sobbing’ at Ozzy’s final Black Sabbath gig
Ozzy enjoyed being a grandfather to Louis’ kids Elijah and Maia.
Louis also attended Ozzy’s final Black Sabbath gig just weeks ago, and called the show ‘mindblowing’.
Louis wrote: ‘I don’t really know where to start about the show yesterday. It was hugely emotional for us.
‘I was sobbing at times. It was everything we wanted it to be and more. I had been anxious for months about this as I’ve been worried about my dad’s ability to perform with his Parkinson’s disease.
‘I just wanted it to be a dignified send off for him. But as soon as he started singing we knew he was gonna nail it.’
Louis attended Ozzy’s final Black Sabbath gig a few weeks ago (Picture: Phillip Massey/FilmMagic)
While Louis wasn’t an MTV regular, he appeared on three episodes of The Osbournes. In the 90s Louis worked as a DJ in Ibiza and the US.
He resides in the UK, and once said of his family dynamic with the rest of The Osbournes: ‘I don’t travel half as much as I used to and they are in America.’
‘There is more chance of us seeing each other in a random New York hotel than us all getting round a table for a Sunday lunch. We meet on special occasions.
He added: ‘Dad usually calls on a Sunday afternoon for a catch up and when he comes over to the UK we take the kids down (to his home in Buckinghamshire). Dad is great, very much a doting grandad.’
Where is Jessica Osbourne after she was left out Ozzy’s death announcement?
Jessica has three kids – Isabelle, Harry and Kitty – and while she never appeared on an episode of The Osbournes like many of her siblings, it was revealed on the reality TV show she had given birth to a baby girl, making Ozzy a grandparent for the first time.
Here Jessica is seen to the right of a blonde-haired Jack and to the left of Aimee. Kelly stands closest to the camera (Picture: Chris Delmas/ZUMA Wire)
While she has kept a private life away from The Osbournes, Jessica has worked in costume and wardrobe for films. As well as writing and directing her own films, Jessica has had minor roles in series including Manhattan, The Messengers and Better Call Saul.
Elliot Kingsley: Ozzy’s adopted son
Not much is known about Elliot Kingsley, who Ozzy adopted during his marriage to Thelma.
While he was never featured on the MTV show, The Sun reported in 2023 that he was working as an actor.
How Jack Osbourne helped Ozzy get clean
Jack was a regular on The Osbournes alongside his sister Kelly, while Sharon and Ozzy’s other child Aimee chose to stay out of the spotlight.
In a 2021 interview with Variety, Ozzy opened up about a conversation with Jack that stayed with him.
‘I had a row with Jack. I had to talk business. And I said, “What have you ever f***ing wanted? I’ll give you whatever you want,’ Ozzy recalled.
‘He says, “What about a father?” That kicked me in the balls so hard. It knocked me sideways. I went, “Oh, my God.” I’d give whatever materialistic things they ever wanted. But the most important person wasn’t there.’
Jack Osbourne, here a newborn baby, made his father assess his role as a father in their lives (Picture: Mike Maloney/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Jack has previously opened up about Ozzy’s grandparenting rules.
‘My dad is like, “Hell, no. Like, no,”‘ he said of changing diapers. ‘Because my dad’s in that era where, like, men don’t touch diapers. Like, that’s not that’s not what dads do.”
‘It’s funny if my kids are at the house and like they all want to get into bed and watch TV with my mom, my dad is like, “Nope.” And he like, gets out of the bed and like, goes. He’s like, “No, I’m not doing that,”‘ Jack said.
He continued, ‘I’m like, “Why?” He’s like, “I don’t want them going to school being like, “I was in bed with my grandpa.” He’s like, “No, not dealing with it.” And I’m like, “OK.” I’m like, “Fine, that’s your boundary. That’s your boundary.”‘
Aimee Osbourne left home at 16 and is now a musician
Aimee Osbourne opted out of the fame attached to The Osbournes’ TV show when she left home at 16 as the rest of her family embarked on the reality show.
‘I’m not some weirdo depressed daughter that’s afraid of the world and locks herself in her room all day; I just didn’t choose to do the show,’ Aimee said on US TV.
‘I want to be a singer, and I felt if I’d stayed with the Osbournes and done the whole thing I would have been typecast right away. [Mum] was hurt and we definitely had a tough time with disagreements. I’m more reserved and my private life is very important.’
Aimee has 49,000 followers on social media, having pursued her singing career away from The Osbournes TV show (Picture: Mark Sullivan/WireImage)
Sharon later said ‘every day’ she regrets that her daughter left home.
Aimee performs under the moniker ARO, and seems more open nowadays about posting life updates on social media, where she has 49,000 followers.
Kelly and Aimee previously hinted at friction between them, and they do not follow each other on Instagram. Jack and Aime also do not follow each other.
Ozzy died weeks after watching Kelly Osbourne and Sid Wilson get engaged
Ozzy was able to see Kelly and Sid get engaged backstage at the final ever Black Sabbath gig earlier this month in a moment caught on camera.
But in true Ozzy style, he couldn’t resist a gag, butting in with: ‘F**k off, you’re not marrying my daughter, are you?’
Sid laughed as he addressed Kelly: ‘Kelly, you know I love you more than anything.
‘Nothing would make me happier than to spend the rest of my life with you.’
‘So, in front of your family and all of our friends, Kelly, will you marry me?’, he asked her.
Kelly told People in May 2024 that while she was pregnant and partner Sid Wilson toured with his band, Slipknot, she lived with her parents and had a special time of bonding with her father.
‘I did everything with him for a whole nine months,’ she said. ‘It was more than nine months because I moved back in with my parents when I was pregnant because Sid was on tour and I didn’t want to be by myself.’
She said the time was an ‘amazing experience’ she would ‘never give that back for anything’.
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