Jack Osbourne set the record straight on his late father Ozzy Osbourne’s religious beliefs. During a March 2206 appearance on Jamie Kennedy’sHate to Break It to Ya podcast, the son of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne confirmed that his dad’s Prince of Darkness persona was just a stage act, and that his image sometimes bothered him.
“Nothing evil was ever in our household in that capacity,” Osbourne, 40, told Kennedy. “My dad was a believer in Christ. He had a Bible. He wore a cross every day of his life.”
“He got a lot of frustration about it because he’s like, ‘People are saying I’m this thing and I’m not this thing,'” Osbourne continued of the Black Sabbath legend. “That’s why you cannot ever trust the news, right? The news declared, you know, it would be all over CNN or news stations, oh, ‘Ozzy’s a Satanist who’s gonna do all this stuff,’ because, you know, if you see this part in a song, it could be this and that.”
Ozzy joked about devil worship
Ozzy Osbourne, who died in July 2025 at age 76, liked to play up a Satan-worshipping persona.
In 2002, he joked to Metal Hammerthat Satan protected him from getting COVID 19. “My wife had the virus; my daughter had the virus and I never got it,” the singer said at the time, adding, “Being a devil worshipper does have its good points!”
In a 1986 interview with Spin, reposted by The Guardian, Ozzy confirmed he was a non-practicing Christian. “I was christened as a Christian. I used to go to Sunday school. I never took much interest in it because … I didn’t,” he admitted. “My idea of Heaven is feeling good. A place where people are alright to each other. This world scares the s— out of me. We’re all living on the tinderbox.”
Of his song lyrics, he explained, “I mention the word ‘death.’ I mention the word ‘evil’, but in the context of the story, it’s like Mary Had a Little Lamb. They all think I’m singing, ‘Satan, Satan, Satan, Satan … death, murder, murder.’ They think that’s all that comes out of my mouth. They never stop to listen. They’ve already prejudged me and tried me.”
“I might start singing f—ing religious songs,” he added. “I don’t think so, but if I choose to, why not?“
In a 1992 interview clip posted by Audacy, Ozzy reaffirmed his faith. “I’m not against the church at all,” he said. “But all I ever wanted to do was have a lot of fun with people. I believe in God. I don’t go to church, but I don’t think you have to … go to church to believe in God,” the rock legend added.
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Ozzy’s dad made crosses for the band
In the early days of Black Sabbath in the 1970s, Ozzy’s bandmate Geezer Butler was interested in the occult. “I totally believed in the devil,” Butler told MOJO in an interview, per Classic Rock. “I started reading books by Aleister Crowley and Dennis Wheatley, especially The Devil Rides Out, which was meant to be a cautionary tale, but which read like a handbook on how to be Satanist.”
Butler changed his tune after an inexplicable experience with a black shadowy figure in his room, but by that time, Black Sabbath’s music had already been labeled by some.
“We didn’t think anything of it until the first American tour,” Butler told Metal Hammer in 2019. “There was some black magic organization that wanted us to play at a stone circle… We said no – we were sort of against Satan as opposed to promoting it – so they allegedly cursed us. The head of the white witches called our management and said he knew we had a curse put on us, and we should wear crosses, and he’d do a ritual thing. It all sounds so hokey.”
“That’s why we started wearing crosses!” Butler added. “Ozzy’s father made them for us. He used to work at a metal factory making car parts, so he made us these great big crosses out of spare metal.”
This story was originally published by Parade on Mar 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.