Ozzy Osbourne branded his Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler a ‘f***ing a***hole’ as he claimed the bassist never reached out during his health battle.
The rocker, 74, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2003, also revealed that doctors found a tumour in his spine during a fourth operation on his back following a 2019 fall, in a new interview with Rolling Stone UK.
The band was formed by the four original members, guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and himself, in 1968.
Ozzy and Geezer previously blamed the breakdown of their relationship on their wives, with the bassist saying his wife Gloria and Sharon won’t allow them to speak to each other in his memoir, Into The Void.
Hitting out at Geezer this week, Ozzy exclaimed: ‘He can’t pick up the f***ing phone like a man and see how I’m doing.’
He continued: ‘When his son was fucking born, I phoned him every fucking night even though we were at war with each other, Black Sabbath and me. I thought, “F*** it, he’s my mate, I’m going to call him.” But from him, not one f***ing call.’
‘It’s sad, man. We all grew up together, and he can’t pick up the f***ing phone like a man and see how I’m doing. Even Bill Ward has been in touch with me.
‘I said some things about Bill, and I don’t know why I said it, but when I came through my illness, he contacted me. I’m not in shock, I’m just very f***ing sad that he can’t just call me after all this time and say, “How you doing?” F***ing arsehole.’
Geezer later hit back at the claims on social media, sharing a photo of the duo on stage together to Instagram, he wrote: ‘Rumour has it; Ozzy is upset, saying he never received my get well messages.
‘I made 2 different attempts at getting in touch during his illnesses. My first email (8 Feb, 2019) went through his office because I didn’t have Ozzy’s new number to text him. Sharon responded but I didn’t hear back from Ozzy.
’11 months later (21 Jan, 2020), I emailed Sharon to check on Oz. That email went unanswered.
‘I don’t want to engage in a tit for tat. Having made 2 attempts to wish Ozzy well, without a reply, I figured it best to privately keep him in my thoughts.’
It comes after Ozzy has insisted that there’s plenty of life in him yet and it ‘p***es him off’ when he sees reports that he’s ‘fighting his last battle.’
He told Rolling Stone UK: ‘I don’t fear dying, but I don’t want to have a long, painful and miserable existence. I like the idea that if you have a terminal illness, you can go to a place in Switzerland and get it done quickly. I saw my father die of cancer.
‘At best, I’ve got 10 years left and when you’re older, time picks up speed. Me and Sharon had our 41st wedding anniversary recently, and that’s just unbelievable to me!’
Detailing the series of operations he’s had recently following his fall in 2019, he confessed: ‘It’s really knocked me about. The second surgery went drastically wrong and virtually left me crippled.
‘I thought I’d be up and running after the second and third, but with the last one they put a f***ing rod in my spine. They found a tumour in one of the vertebrae, so they had to dig all that out too. It’s pretty rough, man, and my balance is all f***ed up.’
The December/January issue of Rolling Stone UK is out now.
What is Parkinson’s ?
Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative condition. The illness effects the nerve cells in the brain that control movement.
Over time the symptoms gradually get worse. It can cause symptoms related to movement as well as pain, depression and loss of smell.
Most people who get Parkinson’s are over 60, but one in ten are under 50 and it affects more men than women.
What causes the symptoms?
Nerve cells in the brain send messages to the rest of out body to control our movements. This is done using chemicals called neurotransmitters.
An area of the brain called the substantia nigra produces one of the neurotransmitters that controls movement: dopamine. But in 70 to 80 per cent of people with Parkinson’s these dopamine producing cells deteriorate and die.
The loss of dopamine-producing neurons results in low levels of dopamine in the part of the brain that controls movement and balance.
Source: Parkinson’s Europe