Ozzy Osbourne was set to return to the UK to pick the Icon Award at the first ever Rolling Stone UK Awards in association with Remy Martin. According to The Sun, Ozzy’s wife Sharon accepted his award at last night’s star-studded bash at London’s Roundhouse after it was decided he wasn’t well enough to fly from their home in California.

The following is an excerpt from the article in The Sun:

Now, with his 75th birthday approaching next weekend, Ozzy doubts he will be here in a decade. He said: “I don’t fear dying, but I don’t want to have a long, painful and miserable existence. I like the idea that if you have a terminal illness, you can go to Switzerland and get it done quickly. I saw my father die of cancer. I said to Sharon that I’d smoked a joint recently and she said, ‘What are you doing that for? It’ll f*ing kill you!’. I said, ‘How long do you want me to f*ing live for?’. At best, I’ve got ten years left and, when you’re older, time picks up speed. Me and Sharon had our 41st wedding anniversary recently and that’s just unbelievable to me.”

But while his own mortality has made Ozzy appreciate what he has, it hasn’t weakened his fiery personality, causing him to let rip in a fresh feud with Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, 74. They formed the band in 1968 with guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward, going on to record influential tracks such as "Paranoid" and "War Pigs", which cemented heavy metal as a genre.

The pair were not on the best of terms after Ozzy was booted out of the band in 1979 for excessive drug issues and being unreliable. But a feud between Sharon and Geezer’s wife Gloria is what he believes was the nail in the coffin of their friendship. Now Ozzy has slammed his childhood pal for not once reaching out following his health struggles.

He ranted: “You do find out who’s a genuine friend when you’ve been through what I’ve had. Tony Iommi has been so supportive of me since my illness. Geezer Butler hasn’t given me one f*ing phone call. Not one f*ing call. When his son was f*ing born, I phoned him every f*ing night even though we were at war with each other. I thought, ‘F**k it, he’s my mate, I’m gonna call him’. But from him, not one f*ing call. It’s sad, man. We all grew up together, and he can’t pick up the f*ing phone like a man and see how I’m doing. Even Bill Ward has been in touch with me. I said some things about Bill, and I don’t know why I said it, but when I came through my illness he contacted me. I’m not in shock, I’m just very f*ing sad that he can’t just call me after all this time and say, ‘How you doing?’. F*ing a*hole.”

Read more at thesun.co.uk.

(Photo - Ross Halfin)