Zakk Wylde's Drinking Problem Started by Ozzy Osbourne

Up until a little over eight years ago, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Label Society guitarist Zakk Wylde had one of the worst drinking problems in the world of rock n' roll. However, he managed to get clean in 2009 and has stayed on the wagon since. Recently Wylde has come forth to state that it was Osbourne who caused his drinking problem in the first place.

In a recent interview on The Jenny McCarthy show (which can be viewed above), Wylde describes the way he got run off the rails on Ozzy Osbourne's crazy train, saying:

“I was 19, right before I turned 20. That’s when my drinking problem began. I drank until then, and then it was just double-fisting from that point on. When I first started with [Ozzy], I remember Sharon [Osbourne], who I lovingly refer to as Mom – because she's been like my mom since I was 19 years old – she called [Wylde’s wife] Barbaranne up and goes, ‘Excuse me, Barbaranne…’

I would be the only one that would hang out with Oz, because everyone else was like, 'I don't want to get stuck in the web and get, you know, canned over here, because I'm the one enabling him. But I would always hang out with him, because I was just like, ‘Man, how come nobody wants to hang out with Ozzy?’ Then they go, ‘Jackass, you must be a rookie, and you have no idea what's going on around here.’

So anyway, I'd hang out with [Ozzy] all the time and we'd be drinking. But the whole thing is, [Sharon] would go, ‘Barbaranne, does Zakk have a drinking problem?’ She goes, ‘Oh, no, no – he drinks milk!’ [Sharon] goes, ‘Not anymore, he doesn’t. A lot of my friends went to college, and I went to Ozzy Osbourne University, which was like 'Animal House' on steroids.”

It is absolutely no surprise to me that Ozzy would have been the cause or at least the catalyst for anyone having a drinking problem, especially during the late 80's. I'm just glad for Wylde that he managed to clean up his act after a two decade addiction. Not many people can accomplish such a feat, but he did it. As for Ozzy, I wonder how he is going to feel about this interview.

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