Fifteen months after Ozzy Osbourne said goodbye to Birmingham from a black throne, the film of that night is about to reach theaters. Ozzy & Black Sabbath: Back to the Beginning opens worldwide on October 28. Ahead of the release, Sharon Osbourne, who turned 74 on October 9, gave Rolling Stone her fullest account yet of what the family was told before the show, and what her husband said back.
To understand that conversation, it helps to know how sick Ozzy was in the months before his throne was lifted onto the stage at Villa Park.
How Sick Was Ozzy Before His Farewell Show?
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Ozzy announced in 2020 that he had Parkinson’s disease, following a 2019 fall that led to several surgeries. He retired from touring in 2023. By the summer of 2025, Parkinson’s had taken away his ability to stand and walk, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Sharon told Rolling Stone that Ozzy had been hospitalized in America before the couple moved back to England. There, a new team of doctors refused to rely on his American records and ran their own assessment. He spent about a week in a hospital in England. Specialists for his heart, his Parkinson’s and his lungs then met with the family at home.
The lungs worried Sharon most in hindsight. “We’re talking about a guy that had hardly any lungs left. He had emphysema,” she told the magazine, as quoted by EW. “I don’t know how he did it.”
Readers may remember that DYR first reported in February that Ozzy was warned he might die weeks before the show. The new interview adds who gave that warning and exactly how it was worded. First, though, the show itself.
Why Did Villa Park Matter So Much To Ozzy?
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Villa Park sits in Aston, the Birmingham neighborhood where John Michael Osbourne grew up. It was there, in 1968, that he formed the band that became Black Sabbath with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. Their 1970 album Paranoid gave the world “Iron Man” and “War Pigs.” The band fired Ozzy in 1979. He answered with Blizzard of Ozz and “Crazy Train” in 1980, the start of a solo run managed by Sharon, whom he married in 1982. A whole new generation met him later on MTV’s The Osbournes, which ran from 2002 to 2005.
On July 5, 2025, all four original members played together for the first time since 2005. Tickets sold out in 16 minutes. EW reported a crowd of about 40,000 for a bill that stretched roughly 10 hours, with Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Slayer among the acts. The concert raised about £140 million, around $190 million, for Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorns Children’s Hospice.
Ozzy sang his solo set seated on a throne, closing with “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and “Crazy Train.” Then Sabbath played “War Pigs,” “N.I.B.,” “Iron Man” and “Paranoid.” Tom Morello, the show’s musical director, told Rolling Stone, “There’s never been anything like that that’s happened in the history of rock and roll.”
Ozzy Osbourne died 17 days later. What he did with those days surprised even Sharon.
What Were Ozzy’s Last 17 Days Like?
“He just kept saying, ‘I did it. I did it,'” Sharon said, according to EW. “The next 17 days, he was so, so happy. He was just elated. He just couldn’t believe how everybody turned out for him.” She said the joy stood out because “he’d been so depressed, so down” before the show.
Ozzy died on July 22, 2025, in Jordans, Buckinghamshire, England. He was 76. His death certificate, reported by the Associated Press via ABC7, lists out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and acute myocardial infarction. It names coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease as joint causes. His son Jack later shared the peaceful details of those final hours.
The new film, directed by Ben Wainwright-Pearce, condenses the marathon day into about two and a half hours. Sharon said every artist who performed will appear in it. Watching it meant reliving the conversation that came before.
What Exactly Did The Doctors Tell Ozzy?
“We had six different doctors and they advised us not to do the show,” Sharon told Rolling Stone, as reported by Louder. “They said it would kill him.”
Ozzy refused to cancel. “We were all together and Ozzy said, ‘It’s not an option. It’s what I want,'” Sharon recalled, according to EW. Then he told them, “I know I’m dying. If I miss a few months of my life, I want to go this way. This is what I want.” Later he put it to Sharon more simply. “Another six months, what’s it going to do for me?”
She does not describe the choice as a tragedy. “It was beautiful too. It was amazing. How lucky was he to go out that way?” she said. “I say he went out like a Viking. It was the way he wanted.” To her, the man from Aston “knew what his destiny was. He chose it.”