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Ozzy Osbourne 1948-2025

The wild life & tragic death of a rock god.

By Rachel DeSantis in People

n a moment years in the making, Ozzy Osbourne was sitting atop a bat-bedecked throne, performing for 40,000 people in his native Birmingham, England. "You have no idea how I feel," Osbourne, whose hard-rocking catalog helped put heavy metal on the map in the 1970s, told the crowd on July 5, when he played a farewell concert with Black Sabbath. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

It was an emotional homecoming for the British star, who seamlessly bridged the gap between menacing Black Sabbath frontman and foulmouthed but softhearted family man on MTV's The Osbournes. And a fitting farewell. Just 17 days later Osbourne, who had battled Parkinson's disease for more than two decades, was dead. "There was a point when we were all clapping and crying, and he was trying to get out of that throne, trying to stand up," says Lzzy Hale, whose band Halestorm also played at the concert. "That's the beauty of music. I bet you that he could fly in that moment. I think that this was exacting how he wanted to end that chapter." To play the show, a determined Osbourne undertook months of training to build strength. "It brought his career full circle," a source close to the family says.

Osbourne died on July 22 at age 76 in Buckinghamshire, England. Despite his illness, the star's death was a surprise: Just days earlier his daughter, Kelly, 40, had assured fans that Osbourne was "not dying" and slammed rumors that he and wife Sharon, 72, had made a suicide pact. Authorities said an emergency air ambulance was dispatched to Osbourne's home, and medics provided "advanced critical care" to the rocker, whose cause of death was later determined to be from "cardiac arrest, acute myocardial infection, coronary artery disease and Parkinson's disease," according to his death certificate. "Ozzy's final days were spent in England, surrounded by family, music and in the place he called home," the source says. "He was in peace. [Sharon's] deepest hope was fulfilled." The source adds that Sharon is "heartbroken but very proud of the life the family built together. There's a lot of pain but also a lot of comfort from the family time that they got to enjoy up until the very end."

In 1968 he and three friends formed Black Sabbath. After releasing their self-titled debut two years later, the rockers earned a devoted following that would stick by them for the next five decades and propel them into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006; Osbourne was inducted as a solo artist in 2024. Hits like "Iron Man" and "Paranoid" helped Black Sabbath gain mainstream fame, as did Osbourne's persona as a outrageous, stunt-pulling frontman with a knack for drawing the ire of conservative groups. Nicknamed the Prince of Darkness, he would regularly ask for 10 lbs. of raw liver on concert nights so he could toss it to his zealous fans. Black Sabbath fought back against accusations of devil worship, which Osbourne later dismissed as a "marketing invention" by his record label.

Offstage, though, a different set of demons -- substance abuse -- took hold. "I can do absolutely nothing in moderation," he told People in 1981. "If I booze, I drink the place dry. If it's drugs, I take everything and then scrape the carpet for little crumbs." By 1979 his vices led to him being ousted from the very band he'd cofounded.

Osbourne -- who got sober in 2013 with the help of his manager turned wife, Sharon -- continued to tour and churn out solo records well into his 70s, even rejoining Black Sabbath for a 2013 album. But his fame reached new heights in the early 2000s with the runaway success of the groundbreaking reality show The Osbournes, which cemented his legacy. The series chronicled the dysfunctional day-to-day of Osbourne, Sharon and their two youngest children, Jack, now 39, and Kelly. "I've become everybody's American father, and I'm not even American," he joked to Entertainment Weekly in 2002 of the show, which became MTV's all-time highest-rated series at the time. Though the family (oldest daughter Aimee, 41, opted out) was often filmed arguing, the show's undercurrent was one of love. "They're the best parents I know," Kelly sad during the show's run.

While the series lifted the curtain on Osbourne's life offstage, there was one thing that never made the cut: his 2003 Parkinson's diagnosis, which he only shared publicly in 2020. In his later years Osbourne struggled with his health. Though he relished being a grandfather to his 10 grandchildren, he remained determined to return to music, even as Parkinson's affected his mobility and speech. With his final show, he said goodbye on his terms. "It's where I really belong. It's the only thing I know how to do. The relationship I have with my audience is the biggest love affair of my life," Osbourne told People in 2022. "I am determined to get back onstage, even if I have to be nailed to a board and wheeled on. Survival is my legacy."  

Loni Anderson 1945-2025

WKRP's anything-but-dumb blonde was a comic and class act.

By Andrea Towers in TV Guide

he may have achieved notoriety for her marriage (and eventual divorce) from Burt Reynolds, but Loni Anderson, who died August 3 at the age of 79 from a prolonged illness, was first and foremost a small-screen star. After making her debut in two 1975 episodes of S.W.A.T., she built up her résumé by guest starring on popular series such as The Bob Newhart Show, Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. Then came her most famous role, one that would cement her in television history: playing empowered, stiletto-strutting Ohio radio station receptionist Jennifer Marlow in the CBS series WKRP in Cincinnati from 1978 to 1982.

In defiance of the "dumbe blonde" stereotype that her character was originally saddled with, Anderson infused her with agency and confidence. She was nominated three times for a Golden Globe Award and twice for an Emmy for her portrayal of the sharp-witted office worker.

In addition to a buzzy role as Jayne Mansfield in the 1980 TV movie The Jayne Mansfield Story that costarred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Anderson's WKRP years were probably the high point of her career. She would end up spending decades dealing with the fallout of her toxic relationship with the late Reynolds, who she began dating in 1982 and five years after filming his comedy vehicle Stroker Ace, married at his ranch in 1982. That same year they adapted an infant son, Quinton, but at some point the honeymoon faded and died. Reynolds, who blindsided her with divorce papers in 1993, accused her of being a shopaholic and of forcing him to go almost three years without love "in the biblical sense." But Anderson responded in 1995 with a bestselling memoir, My Life in High Heels. Reynolds, she claimed, had been physically abusive, addicted to painkillers and reluctant to fork over child support. He didn't pay off the divorce settlement until 2015, three years before his death.

Work didn't slow down Anderson's later years. She joined the NBC sitcom Nurses for its third and final season in 1993 and played the cunnning Teri Carlson on the soapy drama Melrose Place in 1996. Anderson took pride in knowing acting was her calling: "Work has saved me," she told TV Guide in a 1994 interview. "It has brought discipline, creativity and camaraderie into my life, all of which I've been missing for years."  

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