Ozzy Osbourne‘s official cause of death was listed as a heart attack with coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s noted as contributing factors.
In the revealing final chapter of his posthumous memoir, Last Rites, the late metal legend wrote openly about suffering from a life-and-death heart condition.
In the passages, as reported by NME, Ozzy wrote that he had been diagnosed with a “dodgy heart valve” that was “80 per cent blocked.” He also revealed that the sepsis he contracted from a prior operation left him with arrhythmia — “when your heart can’t keep time, like a drummer in a bad pub band — so cheers for that.”
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Continuing, Ozzy wrote that his doctors wouldn’t operate on the valve because of the blood-thinning medication he was taking to manage his Parkinson’s condition. Stopping the meds “would be too dangerous.”
“Meanwhile, the thinners mean if I ever fall over, I’d bleed out in about five seconds,” added Osbourne, who passed away on July 22nd. “I’ve honestly lost count of the ways in which getting old sucks.”
Last Rites hits shelves this Tuesday via Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group. Pick up a copy here.
In addition to the memoir, there is also a Paramount+ docuseries following the final years of Ozzy’s life, Ozzy Osbourne: No Escape from Now, set to premiere on Tuesday.