Ozzy Osbourne is undergoing “intense therapy” for sex addiction, which caused his separation from his manager and wife of 34 years, Sharon. The Black Sabbath frontman’s representatives released a statement saying he had been dealing with sex addiction for the last six years,but that since his “relationship” with hairstylist Michelle Pugh had been exposed, he had sought treatment.
When Osbourne moved out of the family home in May, it was suggested he might have relapsed in his drugs and alcohol addictions. Osbourne himself said: “I have been sober for three and a quarter years. I have not touched drugs or alcohol in that time. Any reports that I am not sober are completely inaccurate.”
Pugh had spoken effusively to People magazine about her relationship with Osbourne. “When I say he gave me the greatest love of my life, I mean it,” Pugh told the magazine. “He made me feel like the most beautiful and worshipped woman in the world.”
Osbourne, however, distanced himself from her. “I’m sorry if Ms Pugh took our sexual relationship out of context,” he said in his statement. “I’d also like to apologise to the other women I have been having sexual relationships with. Out of the bad comes good. Since the press exposed this, I have gone into intense therapy. I am mortified at what my behaviour has done to my family. I thank God that my incredible wife is at my side to support me.”
Sharon Osbourne explained on the US TV show The Talk that Ozzy had been having outpatient treatment for three months, and would spend three months as an inpatient after the current Black Sabbath tour finishes. She said sex addiction was more embarrassing than drug addiction.
Pugh, meanwhile, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Osbourne’s daughter Kelly, according to TMZ. She claims that a series of tweets Kelly sent after the affair was revealed “slut-shamed, bullied and harassed” her, causing emotional damage, and loss of business in her work as a celebrity stylist.