ET sits down with the Osbournes to talk about 'The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne' documentary.
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne can't imagine life without each other. Ahead of the premiere of the upcoming documentary, Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne, ET's Kevin Frazier spoke to the couple and their son, Jack Osbourne, who produced the special, about their famous family and how their decades-long romance began.
"Both of us were two odd balls that met," recalled Sharon, who tied the knot with Ozzy in 1982. "After so long and so much that we've gone through to keep this family together, you do become a soulmate. You do become codependent on each other. You don't wanna go anywhere without each other or do anything without each other."
"The thought of not being with him is just unthinkable," she continued. "As the years go on you just get closer. When a romance first starts it's lust, and it's love, and it's everything -- s**ts and giggles. It's a different love. As you get older and things change in your lives, it just becomes a different love."
The couple shared their life and love with the world in their MTV reality series, The Osbournes, which ran from 2002 to 2005. Two of their kids -- Jack, 34, and Kelly, 35 -- also appeared on the show, though their eldest child, 37-year-old Aimee, did not.
"I was so young at time and it was pre-social media. It was right at the dawn of kind of the digital era to a degree and so it's kind of odd," Jack said. "Everything happened so quickly. but yet, it was all in slow motion... Within, like, six months it was everywhere and it was like, 'What happened to my life?' I was just a dorky kid, hanging out at the mall and now this whole thing has blown up."
"Nobody else in music or film had ever let you into their home on a day-to-day basis," Sharon noted, before explaining her and Ozzy's parenting style as it was seen on the show.
The 67-year-old TV personality also addressed a moment in the Nine Lives documentary that focuses on Ozzy's drug use while he was raising a family.
"Everything was so open. There was no... 'Wait till the children go to bed, darling, and we'll have a chat.' If we chatted, they chatted," she said. "Everything was open and probably we should never have done it, but we did. I can't take it back. I could never take it back. Thinking about it, there's loads of things that I would have done differently with my kids."
"When can I start sending my therapy bills to you?" Jack quipped. "Because that s**t is expensive."
"Believe me I know, and it's been going on so long I can't afford it," Sharon joked in response.
Kidding aside, now that Jack's a parent himself -- he and his ex, Lisa Stelly, share Pearl, 8, Andy, 5, and Minnie, 2 -- he's thankful for the many lessons he learned from his mom and dad.
"Ultimately at the stage that I'm in now, as a father, your parent kind of becomes more of your road map. I will often reflect on the lessons my dad told me through life and and see how I can implement that into my own household. Same with my mother," Jack said. "... He's my father, he's my kids grandfather, he's my coworker. Our whole worlds are are intertwined. I feel very blessed for that. Not everyone gets to experience that."
That closeness was felt through TV screens across the world when The Osbournes became a hit, something Jack credits largely with the time when it was released.
"I actually attribute, in a very kind of odd way, the success of the show to the state of the country when it aired. It was in March of 2002, right on the heels of 9/11, and everyone was just running around questioning their reality. Where do we go in life? What just happened? What did we all just witness?" he recalled. "And then they turn on the TV and they kind of just see a family, who at first glance is totally different from them, but yet all experiencing the same thing."
"I think people really resonated with that in that time period," Jack added. "I don't think the show would have been as successful if it had come on in a different time."
Prior to and following The Osbournes' run, Ozzy continued to be a huge name in music, fronting Black Sabbath before beginning a successful solo career. Due to both a Parkinson's disease diagnosis and the coronavirus, Ozzy has been unable to perform for a while, something he's looking forward to resuming as soon as possible.
"It catches up with you in the end. I've got no complaints. I've had a great career. I had a great time. And I ain’t done yet," the 71-year-old rocker proclaimed. "... As soon as I get back on my feet I'll [go] out. I can't wait. Pandemic or not, I can't wait."
"Once they allow artists to go back and perform, if I have to I'll wheel him on," Sharon added.
"I will be happy as well," Ozzy agreed. "If my life ended on a stage, so be it. That's the place I belong."
As for his health now, Ozzy told ET that he's "feeling better every day."
"It's so slow. I go in the swimming pool for an hour every day. I work out every day," he shared.
All of those ups and downs and more will be show in the upcoming A&E documentary, which will premiere on Sept. 7.
"We were given 90-something minutes to fit in 70 years of someone's life -- and it's not the average 70-year-old life," Jack said of his dad, who fronted Black Sabbath before beginning a successful solo career. "So there was stuff that we left out, not because we didn't wanna put it in. It was just timing issues... That's why we called it The Nine Lives of Ozzy. The director Greg [Johnston], he broke it down into nine chapters of his life."
Despite his storied life and career, Ozzy admitted that he "never thinks" about the impact he's had on both music and the world.
"I just do what I do. I try and be a nice guy. I try and help people out," he said. "... What I'm proud of is carrying the torch on and giving someone else a ride."
Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne premieres Labor Day, Sept. 7 at 9 p.m. ET on A&E.
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