In a voice that trembled but never broke, Sharon Osbourne revealed the ten words her husband of more than four decades spoke to her just before he died — words she says will haunt and comfort her for the rest of her life. Sitting in her London home, the widow of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne shared the intimate moment with Rolling Stone in an exclusive interview, describing the surreal quiet in the room as the man who had lived so loudly for 76 years slipped away.
“He looked at me, and he said, ‘I’m ready, my girl. Don’t be scared for me,’” she recalled, her eyes glistening. “And then he was gone.” That sentence, just ten words, has already become part of the mythology surrounding the Black Sabbath frontman’s passing — a death that stunned fans even though he had battled severe health issues for years. As BBC News reported, Ozzy died peacefully at home, surrounded by family, after complications from a long-fought illness.
The couple’s daughter Kelly Osbourne, speaking with Entertainment Tonight, said she was holding her father’s hand during his final breaths. “He was looking at Mum. It was like nothing else in the world existed except the two of them. He gave her that message and then… it was like he decided it was time.”
Fans around the world awoke to the news when Sharon’s publicist issued a brief statement early Monday, confirming her husband’s death and asking for privacy. But within hours, tributes flooded social media. A clip of Ozzy performing “Changes” — the song he famously dedicated to Sharon during their tumultuous marriage — was shared hundreds of thousands of times. As one user wrote on Twitter, “They lived every emotion in public. Seeing them like this at the end… it’s breaking me.”
“I’m ready, my girl. Don’t be scared for me.” — Ozzy Osbourne’s final words to Sharon, according to her. Absolutely devastating. #RIPOzzy— Rock News Feed (@RockNewsFeed) August 9, 2025
According to The Guardian, Ozzy had been receiving in-home hospice care for weeks, and friends were quietly told to come say goodbye. Sharon said she spent most of those final days at his bedside, often reading to him from fan letters and playing the music that defined his career. “Sometimes he’d drift off, sometimes he’d tap his fingers. Even at the end, he was still feeling the music,” she said.
Media outlets from The New York Times to Billboard noted that his death marks the end of one of rock’s most volatile love stories — a marriage filled with public fights, reconciliations, and declarations of undying devotion. Sharon’s grief, however, is private in ways the couple’s drama rarely was. “I know everyone wants to talk about the legacy and the music,” she told People. “But right now, all I can think about is those words. How he made sure I wasn’t afraid before he left.”
Friends say Sharon has been leaning on her children for support. Jack Osbourne posted a black-and-white photo of his parents dancing, captioning it simply: “He told her not to be scared. We’re not scared, Dad. We’re proud.” The post, according to The Independent, has since been liked more than a million times.
Jack Osbourne’s tribute to his father is pure heartbreak: “We’re not scared, Dad. We’re proud.” #RIPOzzy— Music World Today (@MusicWorldToday) August 9, 2025
Sharon revealed that in the hours after his death, she sat alone in their bedroom, playing the couple’s favorite Fleetwood Mac album. “I just kept hearing his voice in my head,” she told Variety. “Those last words weren’t just for me. They were him telling everyone — his fans, his family — that he wasn’t afraid.”
In Los Angeles, fans gathered outside the Hollywood Walk of Fame star Ozzy received in 2002, leaving candles, guitar picks, and handwritten notes. As The Los Angeles Times reported, several mourners brought portable speakers and played his biggest hits, from “Crazy Train” to “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” turning the vigil into an impromptu concert.
Music historians are already framing Ozzy’s last words as part of rock’s canon of famous deathbed farewells. Cultural critic Amanda Petrus for Vulture wrote that the phrase “I’m ready, my girl. Don’t be scared for me” reflects “the tenderness that coexisted with the chaos” in Ozzy’s life. Fans on Reddit’s music forums have begun sharing their own interpretations, some even getting the quote tattooed in his signature script.
Tattoo artists are reporting a surge in requests for Ozzy’s final words. “It’s about love, bravery, and facing the end,” one fan posted. #RIPOzzy— CultureBeat (@CultureBeatNews) August 9, 2025
For Sharon, however, those words are not about public legacy but private promise. “He knew I’d be lost without him,” she told Hello! Magazine. “But he wanted me to know that it’s okay to keep going. He was giving me permission to live.”
The Osbourne family plans to hold a private funeral in London next week, with a public memorial to follow in Los Angeles later this month. Sharon has hinted that the service will feature performances by some of Ozzy’s closest collaborators — a final nod to the life he lived on stage. “He wouldn’t want silence,” she told NME. “He’d want guitars.”
As for how she will remember him, Sharon’s answer is simple: “Every time I hear a guitar riff, every time I see our children smile, every time I close my eyes — I’ll hear him say it. And I’ll try not to be scared.”