Sharon Osbourne took part in the docuseries, “Into the Void: Life, Death & Heavy Metal,” which is streaming on Hulu. In the first episode, she reflected on the death of guitarist Randy Rhoads.
Sharon Osbourne Reflects on the Plane Crash
Rhoads was touring with Ozzy Osbourne and band members Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge (Osbourne had left Black Sabbath in 1979 to focus on a solo career and deal with his substance abuse issues). They were on a tour bus when they made a stop to fix a broken air conditioner, People reports.
At some point, while Ozzy and Sharon were sleeping, Rhoades and a woman who worked with them, Rachel Youngblood, went up in a private plane with the bus driver. What happened next was unthinkable because the plane crashed into the tour bus. Sharon reflected on the moment. “It was like a horror movie, body parts — and I was screaming at the tour manager, and I can remember taking my shoe off and whacking him across the head,” she said.
At the time of Rhoads’ death, he was just 25.
Remembering Randy Rhoads
Aldridge also appeared in the docuseries, and he reflected on Sharon’s reaction to the crash. “When Sharon realized that Randy and Rachel had been killed, she came unglued. She just went off on our tour manager, screaming, ‘How could you let that baby get on that plane,” he said.
The crash deeply affected Ozzy, and Sarzo described hearing “wailing, moaning, agony” coming from him while he mourned the loss of Rhoads in a church. Sharon was determined to keep the tour going, knowing that if they returned home, Ozzy would start drinking heavily again.
“We were all in shock for so long, for so long, and then you have to go back and try and make sense of a story to Randy’s mom,” she said. She then broke down into tears. “Now you know why I didn’t want to talk about Randy.”
The eight-part series “Into the Void: Life, Death & Heavy Metal” is executive-produced by Jason Eisener and Evan Husney. The interview with Sharon was done in June 2025, before the death of Ozzy, People reports.
Discussing what happened to Rhoads was difficult for Sharon, but she also shared her gratitude that he was remembered. “I think about Randy all the time and love that he’s not forgotten,” she said in the docuseries. “Music lovers want to know about him. He’s become this mystical little guy that not many people knew well, and he will live on forever. Music is something that doesn’t die. After we’ve gone, it will live on.”
