In his seven decades on earth, many of them hard-lived, Ozzy Osbourne's endured no shortage of trauma, physical, mental, emotional and otherwise. But as the Black Sabbath rocker told Robin Roberts in an interview with ABC News airing Tuesday, Jan. 21, on "Good Morning America," the bad stuff in his past pales in comparison to his last year.
"[It] was the worst, longest, most painful, miserable year of my life," Ozzy, 71, told Robin (via ET).
In January 2019, Ozzy took a spill in his home that turned out to be devastating for his body, which was already being partially held together by metal rods, thanks to a 2003 quad bike accident.
"When I had the fall it was pitch black, I went to the bathroom and I fell," he recalled in a teaser clip of the segment. "I just fell and landed like a slam on the floor and I remember lying there thinking, 'Well, you've done it now,' really calm. Sharon [called] an ambulance. After that it was all downhill."
It turned out the fall moved the metal rods out of position and left him hospitalized for months before he was able to return home. While he was in the hospital, he had surgery to "cut through the nerves" he injured when his neck was forced back in the fall, he has said. He was also outfitted with 15 metal rods in his spine.
His recovery, he said in the "GMA" clip, had "taken its time."
That may have been because he didn't initially understand how serious his injuries were.
"It wasn't really a problem for a while," he said. "I never noticed any different. Sharon was saying, 'Are you OK? You seem different."
It didn't help matters that he was dealing with other health problems as the year went on, including surgery on his hand due to a staph infection and complications from the flu and bronchitis.
Ultimately, Ozzy was forced to delay his planned solo tour repeatedly.
"Words cannot express how frustrated, angry and depressed I am not to be able to tour right now," he wrote on Instagram in April.
By May, Ozzy's wife Sharon Osbourne, who joined him for the "GMA" piece, couldn't help but reveal to fans how much she and Ozzy and their family were suffering.
"His accident has been absolutely devastating to me, to everybody. And it's definitely been the most toughest ride I've had so far and I hope the only tough ride. I can't take any more," she said on "The Talk" last spring.
The "GMA" segment comes ahead of the March SXSW premiere of a new A&E documentary, "The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne," produced by Ozzy's son, Jack Osbourne.
"This film will take viewers on an incredibly honest and emotional journey into my father's life that I feel will connect to people in so many ways," Jack said in a press release, according to ET.
Ozzy's also getting ready to kick off promotions for his long-awaited first solo album since 2019, "Ordinary Man," due out Feb. 21.
According to Billboard, the album features guest appearances from Elton John, who plays piano on the title track, as well as Post Malone, Rage Against the Machine Guitarist Tom Morello and Guns N' Roses' Slash (guitar) and Duff McKagan (bass).