Ozzy Osbourne has revealed that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, the long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system.
"It's PRKN 2," explained his wife/manager Sharon to ABC-TV’s Good Morning America. “There's so many different types of Parkinson's; it's not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body. And it's — it's like you have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day."
"It's been terribly challenging for us all,” added Ozzy. “I did my last show New Year's Eve at The Forum in 2018. Then I had a bad fall. I had to have surgery on my neck, which screwed all my nerves.”
"I got a numbness down this arm for the surgery; my legs keep going cold," he continued. "I don't know if that's the Parkinson's or what, you know, but that's — see, that's the problem. Because they cut nerves when they did the surgery. I'd never heard of nerve pain, and it's a weird feeling."
Ozzy’s health issues have kept him off the road from his farewell tour, and that’s added to the frustration.
"Coming from a working class background, I hate to let people down. I hate to not do my job," said Osbourne. "And so when I see my wife goin' to work, my kids goin' to work, everybody's doing -- tryin' to be helpful to me, that gets me down because I can't contribute to my family, you know."
"But you know, put it this way - I'm a lot better now than I was last February. I was in a shocking state."
Ozzy felt it was time to share his health status with fans after such a challenging year.
"To hide something is hard — you never feel proper," said Ozzy. "You feel guilty. I'm no good with secrets. I cannot walk around with it anymore. It's like I'm running out of excuses.
"I feel better now that I have owned up to the fact that I have a case of Parkinson's."
Osbourne will release his first album in a decade, “Ordinary Man”, on February 21.
See also:
Ozzy Osbourne streams Nine Lives documentary preview
Ozzy Osbourne streams Ordinary Man featuring Elton John and Slash
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