- Have YOU got a story? Email tips@dailymail.co.uk
To the outside world and his millions of fans, he was known as the Prince of Darkness, an outspoken and talented rocker whose outrageous antics would garner as much, if not more, attention than his vocal abilities.
Yet those closest to Ozzy Osbourne saw a different side to the musician, with the Black Sabbath star ‘loving and goofy’ with those he held close.
Praising the doting grandfather in a heartfelt tribute was his daughter-in-law Aree, as she mused: ‘The world got a rock star but we got an ice lolly loving, goofy, big hearted guy who made us laugh like no other.’
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Aree – who married Ozzy’s son Jack in 2023 – shared a slew of adorable family snaps that showed the rocker enjoying quality time with his grandchildren.
Ozzy, who died last month aged 76, was seen playing with Jack’s children and beaming broadly as he spent time with his family.
In one sweet snap, he was seen alongside wife Sharon, 72, who Aree vowed to look out for as she grieves the loss of her husband.
Aree penned: ‘I’m pretty sure I have the coolest father in law around, and the best papa to my kids.
‘The world got a rockstar but we got an ice lolly loving, goofy, big hearted guy who made us laugh like no other.
‘He was always in my corner and I forever am thankful to him for raising my husband and blessing me w my family. We got Nana always, Papa.
‘Keep giving us all those signs from above ✨We’ll keep your name loud, your stories alive, and your love wrapped around us like armor. Forever our guy.’
Ozzy was at heart a family man, with six children and 10 grandchildren.
He shares Jessica and Louis with his first wife, Thelma Riley, whom he was married to from 1971 to 1982. He also adopted her son, Elliot.
Ozzy later became a grandparent to Jessica’s children: Isabelle, Kitty and Harry, and Louis’ kids, Elijah and Maia.
He married Sharon in 1982 and the went on to have three children together: Aimee , Kelly and Jack.
Jack shares three children with first wife Lisa Stelly: Pearl, Andy, and Minnie. He welcomed daughter Maple with Aree in 2022.
Kelly shares son Sidney with her fiancée Sid Wilson.
Ozzy’s relationship was well documented in MTV’s The Osbournes, which followed the lives of Ozzy, Sharon and two of their children – Jack, 39, and Kelly, 40.
Their eldest, Aimee, 41, chose not to star in the reality show as she tried to carve out her own career in the music industry.
She has continued to keep out of the spotlight in recent years, yet Jack and Kelly previously revealed that they were not meeting up behind the scenes.
Speaking in a podcast chat recorded weeks before they reunited for their father Ozzy’s funeral, Jack revealed that he and Aimee were ‘not close at all’.
Jack said on the Disrespectfully podcast: ‘Back then she really wanted to be a musician and the kind of musician she wanted to be was like a Fiona Apple, Mazzy Star, like this kind of obscure, mysterious, moody…
‘And she deemed doing a show on MTV as low-hanging fruit. She was like, “I’m not going to be seen riding coat-tails,” kind of thing, that’s how she perceived it.
‘Once the show was hugely successful I think she was kind of like, “Well I can’t now come on because I don’t want to be seen even more so as jumping on the bandwagon”. And she dug her heels in and wanted to be relatively private and obscure.’
While Aimee has remained away from the limelight compared to her siblings, she previously released music under the name ARO, her initials.
Jack revealed on the podcast they weren’t on close terms when he was quizzed on whether Aimee regretted not taking part in the family’s reality series.
He admitted: ‘I’ve never had the conversation with her, we’re not close at all. We don’t have a great relationship, she’ll be the first to tell you that, so it’s no secret.
‘I’ve never asked her outright, “Do you regret it’” I think there must be a level of like, “Hey, my life would have probably been different than what it is if I’d done that”, so I don’t know, I think I would feel like I would have regretted it.’
Aimee courageously put herself in the spotlight for her beloved father at his funeral procession last month.
The Black Sabbath rocker’s funeral cortege travelled through his hometown of Birmingham, passing thousands of fans who lined the streets.
Her brave decision to step into the limelight and pay respects with the world also forced her to put differences aside with her estranged sister Kelly.
Kelly and Aimee have had a fraught relationship for years, but were pictured with their devastated mother and brother for the rock legend’s send off.
In recent years the vastly-different siblings had admitted they weren’t on speaking terms, with Kelly saying in an interview they just ‘didn’t understand each other.’
Kelly appeared on the Dax Shepard podcast Armchair Expert in 2021 and revealed that she and her older sister had been estranged for a long time.
‘We don’t talk,’ Kelly said. ‘We’re just really different. She doesn’t understand me and I don’t understand her.’
Meanwhile, back in 2015 Aimee shared with The Independent that her and Kelly were not on close terms.
‘I wouldn’t say there is an ease between us, but there is an acceptance,’ she said. ‘Do we socialise? No.’
The siblings put aside their differences, however, to be together at Ozzy’s side in his final hours.
They announced the rocker’s death in a heartbreaking statement that read: ‘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.
‘He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.’
