Ozzy Osbourne Can No Longer Walk Because of Parkinson’s, Says Wife

Sharon Osbourne and Ozzy Osbourne attend The Weinstein Company's Academy Awards Nominees Dinner in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. Angela Weiss/Getty Images for FIJI Water

Ozzy Osbourne may not be able to walk, but he can still sing, says his wife, Sharon Osbourne, in a health update on the British musician’s battle with Parkinson’s disease.

“Parkinson’s is a progressive disease. It’s not something you can stabilize. It affects different parts of the body, and it’s affected his legs,” the 72-year-old television personality told The Sun in a Feb. 5 interview.

“His voice is as good as it’s ever been,” she added.

The celebrity couple, who married in 1982, have three children: Aimee, 41, Kelly, 40, and Jack, 39.

The 76-year-old Black Sabbath frontman will take the stage one last time on July 5 in Birmingham, England, to headline his final show, “Back to the Beginning.”

“It’s my time to go Back to the Beginning…. time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Ozzy said via Instagram on Feb. 5.

“How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love ... Birmingham Forever.”

All proceeds from the concert will be donated to various charities, including Cure Parkinson’s, the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorns Children’s Hospice.

Parkinson’s Diagnosis

In a January 2020 appearance on “Good Morning America,” Ozzy Osbourne revealed he had been diagnosed with a “mild form” of the progressive neurodegenerative disorder.

“It has been terribly challenging for us all,” he said, adding that he received his diagnosis in early 2019 after undergoing neck surgery following a bad fall.

“It’s PRKN 2,” his wife noted. “It’s not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body. And it’s like you have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day.”

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, genetic changes or mutations in various gene groups, such as PARK2, PARK7, and PINK1, have been linked to the onset of Parkinson’s.

The PARK2 gene, also known as PRKN, is responsible for producing parkin, a protein in the brain that helps break down damaged proteins. According to the National Institutes of Health, mutations in the parkin protein are the second most common cause of Parkinson’s disease.

Ozzy Osbourne attends the Ozzy Osbourne Album Special on SiriusXM's 'Ozzy's Boneyard' Channel in Los Angeles, Calif., on July 29, 2022. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for SiriusXM

According to the Mayo Clinic, Parkinson’s affects the body’s central nervous system, resulting in a variety of uncontrollable movements, including shaking or tremors, impaired coordination, and the loss of automatic reflexes, such as blinking or smiling.

Johns Hopkins Medicine reports that people are most commonly diagnosed with the disease at around the age of 60. Of the estimated 1 million people who have Parkinson’s, only about 2 percent were diagnosed before the age of 40.

During a recent segment of his SiriusXM radio show “Ozzy’s Boneyard,” the entertainer expressed gratitude for his life despite the health setbacks.

“I have made it to 2025. I can’t walk, but you know what I was thinking over the holidays? For all my complaining, I’m still alive,” he said on Feb. 4, per The Sun.

“I may be moaning that I can’t walk, but I look down the road, and there’s people that didn’t do half as much as me and didn’t make it.”