Rock WivesBy Mary Keegan
Sharon Osbourne has been married to rock star Ozzy for 14 years. They have three children: Aimee, 13, Kelly, 12 and Jack, ten. Sharon, 43, works as 47-year-old Ozzy's manager, masterminding his career from their 110-acre property in Buckinghamshire. She says:
Ozzy wasn't the first star I'd encountered. When we met in 1979 I was working in celebrity management and Black Sabbath, his group at the time, was just one of the clients my company dealt with. I started working closely with Ozzy and we ended up spending 20 hours a day together. His marriage broke up - which was awful, because he had a son and a daughter he loved - and we started seeing each other in 1980. We married in 1982. Ozzy was an alcoholic when I met him but I didn't realise it. When he was sacked from Black Sabbath in 1980 because of his drinking, I saw it as an opportunity to take his career in hand and make him a financial success. I went on tour with him from the start. We were broke for the first three years of our marriage and we spent the whole time on the road.
It was exciting at first: Ozzy and I were a team. I didn't notice that his drinking was out of control. Celebrity parties and being on the road were no problem for me because of my experience working with other artists. There were always executives and lawyers there that I could talk to, but when the star is your husband it can make things a little difficult. Groupies are always a problem with male stars and I've never been one to stand for any nonsense from them. Initially, I felt insecure but as Ozzy and I became closer, with the children and the deepening of our work relationship as well as our physical relationship, I became more confident. Now, I'd kill anyone who tried it on with my husband and I have come to blows with several fans. When the children were little, we all went on tour. I've had three toddlers under five on the road and it was a nightmare. What they needed was a secure environment but what they got was constant change. We had a run of ear infections, colds and sore throats, but I had to do my best while managing Ozzy at the same time.
Although I was used to the way the music industry worked, there were certain record executives who just wouldn't take me seriously as his manager. In those days, the industry was run by middle-aged men who wanted to keep women out of the way. Once I was married to Ozzy, they expected me to play the air-head wife, but that wasn't me, so I came in for quite a lot of abuse. All the while, Ozzy's drinking was getting worse. He was also taking drugs. But although I considered leaving him, it was never really an option because I loved him. He went to a total of seven clinics, including the Betty Ford Clinic in America for six weeks in 1989. He loved it there and I had high hopes that he had finally beaten his addiction. I was so excited the day he came home. He walked through the door at noon but by 2pm he was drunk on the floor. I wept with rage. We both knew that the fact that he was a rock star was at the root of his problems.
Creative people are different from others - they're more fragile. But I knew Ozzy couldn't give up his music. It was his life. He'd scream that he hated me and that he was leaving, but when he was sober again he'd be my loving husband once more, he'd apologise and promise to try harder. About a year after he was treated in America, Ozzy hit his lowest point. He woke up one evening after a day's drinking and decided that he wanted to kill me. I managed to reach one of the panic buttons we'd had installed as a security measure, and the police came and arrested him. He ended up in court and the judge put him into another treatment centre.
Amazingly, out of that disaster came a miracle. He stopped drinking and he has never returned to his old ways. Since then, life has been much easier for us. Ozzy's audiences tend to be overseas, in America, Canada and Japan, and he is on a 15-month world tour at the moment. We speak to each other about 20 times a day by telephone and I've just been to see him in Chicago. He loves being at home and he'll never go on tour for so long again. When he's here, he doesn't leave our land. He walks our five dogs, goes camping in our woods with the children and plays the loving dad and husband. Ozzy is an older man now, a more mature man. He still has great stage presence and he's happier with himself and his life. The rock industry could have ruined our marriage but, by working in it as a team, we've managed to survive.
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Source: Daily Mail 18.10.96
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