Iconic rocker Ozzy Osbourne said he might never again perform live.
The Black Sabbath frontman made the remarks during an interview with Rolling Stone as he battles health issues that have him struggling to walk.
"I'm not going to get up there and do a half-hearted Ozzy looking for sympathy," Osbourne, 74, said. "What's the point in that? I'm not going up there in a wheelchair."
Osbourne made comparisons to himself and Phil Collins, who has also faced various health issues since suffering a spinal injury in 2007.
Collins was left with damaged vertebrae in his upper neck and also suffered nerve damage, and was forced to use a wheelchair to perform during Genesis' final show.
"I've seen Phil Collins perform recently, and he's got virtually the same problems as me. He gets up there in a wheelchair! But I couldn't do that," Osbourne said.
Osbourne was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2003 but didn't reveal his diagnosis to the public until 2020.
Osbourne has had multiple surgeries and treatments, some linked to the nervous system disease, while others were unrelated. However, a surgical procedure in June 2022 led Osbourne to question whether he'd return to performing onstage.
"I'm taking it one day at a time, and if I can perform again, I will," Osbourne told Rolling Stone. "But it's been like saying farewell to the best relationship of my life.
"At the start of my illness, when I stopped touring, I was really p****d off with myself, the doctors and the world. But as time has gone on, I've just gone, 'Well, maybe I've just got to accept that fact.'"
Osbourne underwent his fourth spinal surgery to address issues resulting from a 2019 fall, which affected the metal rods inserted during a 2003 bike accident.
"It's really knocked me about. The second surgery went drastically wrong and virtually left me crippled," he said. "I thought I'd be up and running after the second and third [surgery], but with the last one they put a rod in my spine. They found a tumor in one of the vertebrae, so they had to dig all that out, too."
Since his last complete performance in 2018, Osbourne has made just two stage appearances: one in Birmingham, England, and another in Los Angeles in 2022, each featuring brief performances of one or two songs.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.