The new Ozzy Osbourne documentary "Ozzy: No Escape From Now" details his years of health issues.
Ozzy Osbourne addresses the crowd at his 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Ozzy Osbourne laughs with his family in the new Paramount+ documentary "Ozzy: No Escape From Now."

Two weeks before his final concert in his hometown of Birmingham, England, Ozzy Osbourne leaned his chin atop his cane and said to his beloved wife Sharon, "After this gig, I'm looking forward to hanging up my microphone and spending some time with you. After this gig, we're free."

Sharon agrees and tells the camera in the next scene, "I just want to find a little bubble somewhere and live out our life together."

It is a heartbreaking plan, in retrospect, knowing that 17 days after Osbourne reunited with Black Sabbath at that final July 5 gig, he died at his home in Buckinghamshire, England, at age 76.

But while the Osbournes didn't get a fairytale coda to the nearly seven years of agonizing health issues Ozzy endured, their devotion to each other is repeatedly on display in the Paramount+ documentary "Ozzy: No Escape From Now" (streaming Oct. 7).

The two-hour film directed by Tania Alexander ("Gogglebox," "Seven Days") is named for a song on Osbourne’s final album, 2022’s “Patient Number 9.” The recording of that release as depicted in the documentary is the balancing light to the overwhelming dark Osbourne experienced in his later years, a series of illnesses, hospitalizations, frustrations and ceaseless pain shown with unblinking frankness.

Alexander was still editing the documentary when Osbourne died, but continued at the urging of the family. Their only request, she told Variety, was to include a montage of the funeral procession to close the film. (A different documentary, “Coming Home,” was delayed following Osbourne’s death and aired Oct. 2 on the BBC.)

“No Escape From Now” provides commentary from the Osbourne children – Kelly, Jack and the usually press-shy Aimee – sharing their own sad realizations about their father’s decline. Interviews with fellow musicians, including Andrew Watt and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, instrumental in coaxing Osbourne out of depression to record “Patient Number 9,” augment the footage of Osbourne’s final years.

It isn’t easy seeing the man known as the Prince of Darkness stumble and wither as Parkinson’s disease, coupled with bouts of pneumonia, sepsis and the degradation of his vertebrae, erode his confidence and will to live.

But whenever Osbourne neared a stage, whether closing the Commonwealth Games in 2022 or at his hometown finale in July, his eyeliner-rimmed eyes widened and his wicked grin flashed. Not even creeping death could quash the rock star within.

Here are other revelations from the documentary.

Ozzy Osbourne almost didn’t make it to his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction

After waffling as to whether or not he wanted to attend his 2024 induction ceremony because, as daughter Kelly says, "he's someone who suffers from the worst social anxiety I've ever seen," Osbourne agreed. But he was was immediately frustrated about being physically unable to perform, leading Sharon to assemble a tribute band including Billy Idol, Maynard Ferguson of Tool and Wolfgang Van Halen to perform Osbourne’s songs at the event.

“I nearly said let me have a go, but I knew I’d be on the floor in two seconds,” Osbourne laments, adding that he even looked into getting bionic legs so he could stand on stage.

But along with physical instability, Jack explained, were the dizzy spells, erratic blood pressure and blood clots in Ozzy’s legs that almost prevented him from flying from Los Angeles, where he and Sharon resided, to the show in Cleveland.

After Ozzy received shots for his blood clots, the entire Osbourne family, grandchildren included, packed a private plane for the trip.

“I love you, Sharon. What a life. What a great career I’ve had,” Ozzy muses on the plane, seated across from his wife. “From humble beginnings to a desolate end.”

At the ceremony, a reverent Jack Black inducted Ozzy, who watched from his customized black throne and smiled and sang along in his seat as his rock peers ripped out fitting renditions of his songs.

‘It will be a miracle if I make it,’ Ozzy said three months before final show

Because his ongoing illnesses caused repeated tour cancellations, Osbourne said his main regret was not being able to properly thank his fans. Sharon worked with Black Sabbath member Tony Iommi to produce a final show for Osbourne at Aston Villa outside of Birmingham for what she called Osbourne’s “last game.”

But two months before the concert, Osbourne developed another cracked vertebrae, underwent a procedure to mitigate the pain, and got pneumonia and sepsis while in the hospital.

“It will be a miracle if I make it. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed,” a wan Osbourne says. But then, “I gotta be there. I have to be there … It’s got to be the best show in the world, otherwise what’s the point of doing it?”

Leading to the performance, Osbourne, sporting a ponytail and headband, underwent weeks of physical therapy and electronic muscle stimulation.

On the day of the show, as Osbourne was getting strapped into his throne that would rise from under the stage to greet the 45,000 fans at Villa Park stadium, his leg jiggled but he was ready to rock. “Intro tape!” he yells to the stage manager, morphing into Ozzy the rock star for the last time.

But the most prescient and poignant footage comes from two weeks before Ozzy’s final bow onstage when he turns contemplative.

“If my life is coming to an end,” he says, “I can’t complain.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ozzy Osbourne documentary reveals agonizing health struggles of his final years

Reporting by Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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