Ozzy Osbourne Details the Injury That Forced Him to Quit Touring

Ozzy Osbourne has provided a more in-depth description of the spinal injury that forced him to quit touring in 2019.

“I went to the bathroom one night,” he says during a new episode of The Osbournes Podcast. “The lights were out, it was pitch black, and I misjudged the bed and missed it and landed flat on my face. I hit the ground so hard and I just lay there. I went smack on the floor, face down.”

The Black Sabbath frontman said he wasn’t in pain, but he could tell something was wrong. “Sharon [Osbourne] said, ‘What are you doing down there?’ I said, ‘Call us an ambulance,'” Osbourne continued. “She said, ‘Are you joking?’ I said, ‘I think I’ve broken my fucking neck.'”

How a Fall Almost Paralyzed Ozzy Osbourne

Osbourne’s fall knocked pins out of alignment that had earlier been inserted after a motorbike accident. He was told, at the time, that if he didn’t have surgery to fix it, he risked paralysis from the neck down.

“Ozzy, the other day, put together an X-ray of his upper chest and his neck,” Sharon Osbourne said back then, “and no wonder they call him ‘Iron Man,’ ’cause I tell you, he’s got bolts. He’s got so much metal in his body, it’s frightening.”

READ MORE: Revisiting Ozzy Osbourne’s Final Concert

The incident essentially led to Osbourne’s retirement from the road. He’s still feeling the effects several years later: Osbourne was forced to pull out of the Power Trip festival set for October.

“My head is alright. My creativity is OK, My singing’s OK, but I just can’t fucking walk much now,” he said last year. “I can’t tell you how fucking frustrating life has become. … I’ve never been this ill this long in my life.”

Think You Know Ozzy Osbourne?