The world bid farewell to heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne on July 30 as thousands lined the streets of Birmingham, England, for his funeral procession. But as fans paid tribute to the legendary “Prince of Darkness,” two noticeable absences fueled speculation about unresolved family tensions: Jessica and Elliot Osbourne, Ozzy’s eldest children from his first marriage, were nowhere to be seen.
While Ozzy’s widow Sharon Osbourne and their children Aimee, Kelly, and Jack, along with one of Ozzy’s older sons, Louis, attended the emotional ceremony, Jessica and Elliot were absent from both the procession and a family statement released after Ozzy’s July 22 death at age 76. The omission has reignited public interest in the Osbourne family’s complicated past. “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” the statement read, signed by Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee, and Louis. Jessica and Elliot were notably excluded.
A Complicated Legacy
Ozzy Osbourne married his first wife, Thelma Riley, in 1972 and adopted her son Elliot before having Jessica Osbourne and Louis. The marriage was turbulent, and Ozzy Osbourne has publicly called it a “terrible mistake.” His relationship with Jessica Osbourne and Elliot Osbourne remained strained throughout his life.
In his 2010 memoir, I Am Ozzy, and the 2011 documentary God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, the Black Sabbath frontman admitted to being largely absent from their childhoods. “I don’t remember Jessica or Louis being born,” he confessed in the film. Jessica Osbourne, in particular, spoke out about her father’s erratic presence, saying, “There’d always be a period of adjustment when he came home, and then he’d go again.”
Louis: The Bridge Between Families
Unlike his siblings, Louis Osbourne remained close to his father in recent years and was seen at Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell concert, Back to the Beginning, on July 5. “I was sobbing at times. It was everything we wanted it to be and more,” he wrote on Facebook. He stood beside his stepmother, Sharon Osbourne, and half-siblings during the funeral, reinforcing his unique place within both of Ozzy’s families.
A Rockstar’s Final Bow
Ozzy Osbourne’s final public appearance was at the Back to the Beginning concert, which raised $190 million for local charities and is set to be released as a film in 2026. A digital tribute also surfaced: searching “Ozzy Osbourne” on Google now triggers a train of emojis pulling a message—“Thanks for the mayhem, Prince Of Darkness.”
Whether Jessica and Elliot chose to stay away or were left out for deeper reasons remains unclear. But as the music world mourns a legend, the silence from Ozzy’s first family is deafening.
