REVEALED: The Most Scandalous Things You Never Knew About Ozzy Osbourne — The 'Prince of Darkness' Rocker Who Died Tragically Aged 76
Ozzy Osbourne lived a wild life before he died aged 76 on July 22.
July 23 2025, Published 8:15 p.m. ET
Over his decades-long career, Ozzy Osbourne cemented himself in pop culture history time and time again.
Music fans largely credit the Black Sabbath frontman with establishing the heavy metal genre, and reality TV junkies view him as a pioneer in the space for showcasing his family's antics on The Osbournes.
Still, Ozzy managed to shield some of his wild side from the public.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the rocker's most scandalous moments and little-known backstories behind them.
First Marriage
Ozzy died aged 76 on July 22 after a long battle with Parkinson's.
Many fans recalled fond memories of growing up with Ozzy's music in the 70s and 80s, but younger generations were first introduced to the Crazy Train singer on his family's MTV reality show, which ran from 2002 to 2005.
While the show centered on Ozzy's home life with longtime wife Sharon and kids Kelly and Jack, even devoted supporters would be surprised to learn he was married once before – and has four other children.
Ozzy met his first wife, Thelma Riley, at a nightclub in 1971. The pair married the same year and soon welcomed daughter Jessica and son Louis. The British rocker also adopted Riley's five-year-old son Elliot, whom she had from a previous marriage.
Fatherhood
Ozzy was married to Thelma Riley and had two biological children and one adopted son before marrying Sharon.
Drug abuse and a hectic touring schedule plagued his marriage with Riley. He then began dating his manager, Sharon.
Despite seemingly moving on from Riley, he was still legally married – and only officially divorced his first wife months before he tied the knot with Sharon in Hawaii on July 4, 1982.
While Jack and Kelly were featured front and center on the family's reality show, they're not the only children from Ozzy and Sharon's marriage.
Ozzy and Sharon's eldest daughter, Aimee, chose not to participate in the reality show and moved out of her family home before filming began.
In the 2011 documentary God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, which was co-produced by Jack, Jessica, and Louis confessed they didn't have many childhood memories with their father, though he later developed a good relationship with Louis' children.
San Antonio Ban
Ozzy was banned from performing in San Antonio for 10 years.
One of Ozzy's most infamous moments happened on February 19, 1982, when the rocker was arrested for urinating on the Alamo Cenotaph in San Antonio, Texas. The cenotaph commemorates the Battle of the Alamo and sits adjacent to the historic site.
A drunk Ozzy was booked into the Bexar County Jail and later released on $40 bail before he played a concert at the HemisFair Arena, where he boasted about his arrest to the sold-out crowd.
Outrage ensued, and Ozzy was banned from performing in San Antonio. In 1992, Ozzy formally apologized and donated $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
Following his death, the Alamo's Instagram account shared a photo of Ozzy visiting the historic site in 2015 "to learn and appreciate the site's profound history, openly demonstrating humility and understanding."
Batty Reputation
Ozzy said he thought the bat he infamously bit the head off of was fake.
Of course, of all the wild moments in Ozzy's career, few compare to the time he bit a bat's head off on stage while playing a show in Des Moines in 1982.
Given how grotesque and shocking the incident was, many believed it was staged. The Prince of Darkness later dispelled myths in his 2010 autobiography, I Am Ozzy.
At the time, a rowdy tradition began on tour where Ozzy would throw raw meat, including intestines and liver, into the crowd. Word spread, and soon fans came to shows prepared to throw meat back at the band.
So when a fan threw an object on stage, the singer did not hesitate to pick the item up without inspection and chomp down.
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Ozzy wrote: "Immediately, though, something felt wrong. Very wrong. For a start, my mouth was instantly full of this warm, gloopy liquid. Then the head in my mouth twitched.
"Somebody threw a bat. I just thought it was a rubber bat. And I picked it up and put it in my mouth. I bit into it."
He recalled realizing: "Oh no, it's real. It was a real live bat."
The rocker managed to finish the show before rushing to the hospital for a rabies vaccination.
While Ozzy recalled the bat being alive, other accounts from the rocker claimed the bat was dead, adding to the confusion over the incident.
Mark Neal, the fan who hurled the animal on stage, later set the record straight and told a local paper his brother brought the bat home, but it sadly passed away and had been dead for several days when he went to the show.
