The late Ozzy Osbourne shared a deep bond with “Friends” star Matthew Perry, and in his memoir, he wrote about it with warmth and empathy. In his posthumous memoir Last Rites, released on October 7, the rock icon reflected on the unexpected bond he shared with Perry, one rooted in honesty, humor, and the shared fight for sobriety.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for SiriusXM“He used to come to our house for AA meetings, or so my wife tells me,” Osbourne wrote, according to Us Weekly. “The funniest, most talented bloke. And he was trying so hard to stay on the right path.”
(Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)Perry, who died in October 2023 at age 54, was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home. His death was later ruled an accidental ketamine overdose.
A Heartbreaking Reflection on Perry’s Death
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy Osbourne expressed deep sadness over Perry’s passing, acknowledging how hard the actor fought to maintain sobriety. “Then one day he listened to his addiction telling him it was OK to get loaded, and that was it — game over,” he wrote. “I felt so sad when they said he’d been found in his hot tub, unresponsive, with ketamine in his system. He’d given everything he had to stay clean. But it wasn’t enough.”
Perry had been open about his long battle with addiction in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, where he shared, “If I did die, it would shock people, but it wouldn’t surprise anybody. And that’s a very scary thing to be living with.”
Osbourne’s Own Battle With Sobriety
Though famous for his wild rock-and-roll years, Osbourne also faced decades of addiction struggles. In Last Rites, he admitted that 2012 marked the last time he “fell off the wagon.” After his wife, Sharon Osbourne, discovered his relapse, she sold the cars he had bought during his bender and encouraged him to get help.
“It helped me, all that AA stuff,” he wrote. “Got me started on the way back to being sober. If you’re on your own, the voice in your head is too persuasive.”
GettyIn his later years, Osbourne found peace in sobriety and even tried medical treatments to understand addiction better. He revealed that he once attempted ketamine therapy under medical supervision but immediately recognized its danger.
“The second I felt it kick in… I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I could have some serious fun with this,’” he recalled. “For the first time in years, I was able to be really honest with myself. When I walked out of that ketamine clinic, I told myself I’d never let addiction steal my spirit from me again.”
Before his death in July 2025 at age 76, Osbourne had become an outspoken advocate for recovery and personal growth. His reflections on Perry showed the compassion of a man who knew firsthand the pain of addiction — and the strength it took to fight it every day.
Ozzy was an inspiration to all a man who kept it real in the spotlight and out it seemed nothing mattered to him he was gonna speak his mind and hopfully the reader gets something good out of it.The whole family is awesome as dysfunctional as some people claimed they were I mean what is dysfunctional and how could one look at The Osbournes and call them dysfunctional.Nobody has that right ..
Ozzy you will always be an inspiration to me and a family who is just as awesome id give anything in life to be part of there family Rock on family..REST IN POWERV OZZY OSBOURNE