LONDON:
The late music icon Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away on July 22, offered a final, candid look into his life, revealing a peculiar and almost comical struggle with addiction transference in his last years. While the War Pig hitmaker expressed immense gratitude for finally overcoming his lifelong battles with drugs and alcohol, a new, unexpected vice took hold: a compulsion for a specific, high-end variety of apple.
In an extract from his posthumous autobiography, Last Rites, shared by The Times, the Black Sabbath legend—who was battling Parkinson’s disease and complex health issues—wrote about the shift in his focus.
“The one major blessing these days is that my addictions are finally under control. I’ve got so many doctors and nurses hovering over me at all times, there’s not even the opportunity,” he wrote, acknowledging the strict control his health regime imposed.
However, he confessed to developing a curious habit: “Mind you, back in LA — in the months before we left for England — I did get hooked on apples for a while.”
Osbourne made it clear that this was not a casual preference. He detailed the highly specific nature of his craving: “Not just any apples, mind you. They had to be Pink Lady apples. None of that Granny Smith bulls***. And they had to be from Erewhon, the posh LA store.” He elaborated on their appeal: “The thing with Pink Ladies is, they’re not too sweet but they’re not too sour. They’re in between.”
The obsession reached extraordinary levels, with the singer admitting: “I got to the point where some nights I was eating 12 of ’em. I even hired a special guy to drive down to Erewhon and buy them. I didn’t want to have ’em delivered in case I got brown ones, or ones with dents in.”
The situation became so intense that the store began rationing his purchases. He joked: “It got to the point where I needed to join Pink Ladies Anonymous.”
Interestingly, the craving vanished upon his relocation. “But it’s strange, the second I got to England I just stopped craving them. Maybe it was one of my medications that caused the addiction.” Osbourne concluded with his signature wit, reflecting on his recovery: “Just the other day they gave me a couple of slices of apple with my lunch and I wasn’t interested. So I guess I’m a recovered appleaholic now.” The final anecdote encapsulates the uniquely human and often bizarre nature of the rock legend’s final, quieter battles.
