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Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne once revealed their assisted suicide pact: 'We won't let our kids suffer'
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne once shared they had an assisted suicide pact, planning to go to Dignitas if either developed dementia.
Rock legend and Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne has passed away at the age of 76. Known to millions as the “Prince of Darkness,” Osbourne had been battling Parkinson’s disease in the years leading up to his death.
His family confirmed his passing in a statement on Tuesday: "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
He is survived by wife Sharon Osbourne and his six children.
When Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne spoke about their assisted suicide pact
Following his death, a past interview resurfaced in which Sharon spoke candidly about a pact she and Ozzy had made regarding assisted suicide.
In her 2007 memoir, Survivor: My Story – The Next Chapter, Sharon revealed that the couple had agreed to seek assistance from Dignitas, a Swiss organization that supports physician-assisted suicide, if either of them developed dementia.
The topic was revisited during a 2023 episode of The Osbournes Podcast, which featured Sharon, Ozzy, and their children Kelly and Jack. In the discussion, Jack asked his parents whether euthanasia was still part of their plan.
“Do you think that we’re gonna suffer?” Sharon responded.
“Aren’t we already all suffering?” Jack quipped.
“Yes, we all are, but I don’t want it to actually hurt, as well,” Sharon added. “Mental suffering is enough pain without physical. So if you’ve got mental and physical, see ya.”
The pact stemmed from Sharon’s experience watching her father, Don Arden, deteriorate from Alzheimer’s disease before his death in 2007.
In a 2007 interview with The Daily Mirror, she explained: "We believe 100 percent in euthanasia, so [we] 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."
She recalled the painful memory of her father’s final years: “From the day he came back into my life in 2002 to the day he died, he suffered. I couldn't ever put my kids through that. At least with something like cancer, you can communicate and explain why your body hurts, but my father deteriorated so quickly. He became a shell — dribbling, wearing a diaper, tied into a wheelchair because he didn’t realize he could no longer walk.”
Sharon continued: "Some say the disease is hereditary so at the first sign I want to be put out of my misery."
Ozzy himself spoke about this in a 2014 interview, stating: "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]."
He continued: "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."
