Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne Reiterate Their Plan to Die Rather Than Face Dementia
I know this next statement is going to blow your mind, but Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne are getting old. It’s true! Both are in their 70s and as such, the very real possibility of age-onset health problems is something the couple are being forced to grapple with. And while Ozzy has been battling Parkinson’s disease for a while now, the couple have an exit strategy if shit begins to absolutely hit the fan.
During the latest episode of their The Osbournes podcast, the couple discussed the plan with their kids Jack and Kelly. The idea of a suicide pact between the Black Sabbath vocalist and his wife originally surfaced in the matriarch’s 2007 memoir. In it, she revealed that Ozzy and her would go to Switzerland to receive assisted suicide care from Dignitas if either of them began suffering from dementia.
When asked by Jack if that was still the couple’s plans, Sharon asked if he thought the couple were going to suffer. After Jack suggested that life is suffering to some extent, Sharon fired back saying she understood that, but didn’t want to be in pain at the end.
“I don’t want it to actually hurt as well. Mental suffering is enough pain without physical. So if you’ve got mental and physical, see ya.”
Kelly chimed in after that, asking if they would still go through with the assisted suicide if there was a chance the couple could survive, but again Sharon shot the notion down, stating that she’d rather go out on her own terms.
In the past, it was noted that Sharon wanted to open the suicide pact after witnessing her father Don Arden’s battle and eventual death due to Alzheimer’s disease. Arden died at 81 years old back in 2007.
“We believe 100 per cent in euthanasia, so have drawn up plans to go to the assisted suicide flat in Switzerland if we ever have an illness that affects our brains. If Ozzy or I ever got Alzheimer’s, that’s it — we’d be off. We gathered the kids around the kitchen table, told them our wishes and they’ve all agreed to go with it.
“There’s no way I could go through what [my father] did, or put my kids through that. My father deteriorated at such a rapid speed he became a shell of himself. Some say the disease is hereditary so at the first sign I want to be put out of my misery.”
Though the initial 2007 suicide pact revelation originally suggested it would only be for something like dementia, Ozzy told The Mirror back in 2014 that they’d actually widened the window for the pact to include any life-threatening condition or Alzheimer’s disease.
Ever the loving husband, Ozzy said he couldn’t bare the idea of only being able to live with the assistance of invasive machines and tubes.
“If I can’t live my life the way I’m living it now — and I don’t mean financially — then that’s it…[Switzerland]. If I can’t get up and go to the bathroom myself and I’ve got tubes up my ass and an enema in my throat, then I’ve said to Sharon, ‘Just turn the machine off.’ If I had a stroke and was paralyzed, I don’t want to be here. I’ve made a will and it’s all going to Sharon if I die before her, so ultimately it will all go to the kids.”
