The singer has has been long associated with addiction but in recent years he confirmed that he had been sober.

In an honest post on his official Facebook that was released today (April 16), Osbourne admitted that he had slipped back into drink and drugs recently but confirmed that he has been clean for 44 days. The singer said:

"For the last year and a half I have been drinking and taking drugs. I was in a very dark place and was an as*hole to the people I love most, my family. However, I am happy to say that I am now 44 days sober."

The heavy metal godfather meanwhile also dismissed speculation that his marriage to wife Sharon was on the rocks, adding:

"Just to set the record straight, Sharon and I are not divorcing. I'm just trying to be a better person. I would like to apologize to Sharon, my family, my friends and my band mates for my insane behavior during this period………and my fans."

Osbourne meanwhile is due to go on tour with Black Sabbath in the UK in December.

The 64-year-old rocker - along with original members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk - will unveil '13' on June 10 in the UK and a day later in the US.

It is the original trio's first studio album since 1978's 'Never Say Die!', which was Ozzy's last with the group, and the star says he is excited for its release.

Speaking to Australia's Triple M radio station, Osbourne said: ''The album is mind-blowing, [that's] how good it is. I'm so over the moon about the way the album turned out.

He added: ''We wrote 16 songs ... and I put it on my CD player expecting me to be unhappy with the end result, but this big grin came on my face and my hair on the back of my neck [stood up]. It's better than my wildest dreams; it's so good.''

Osbourne admits that he is very critical but is proud of the finished product.

He explained: ''Believe me, I'm the guy that goes, 'Ah, there's a mistake there.' I look for the mistake. If there's one mistake, I'll find it. But this album is great, perfect.

''It's very, very heavy, there's no getting away from the fact that it is Black Sabbath, and you can hear every instrument and everything clearly. It's so heavy. I'm so excited about it.''

Speaking on US TV, the media personality and manager admitted they were left in shock after a candle started a blaze in the early hours of the morning.

They tried to put out the fire but Sharon only exacerbated it - causing Ozzy to lose his facial hair and gain "skinned cheeks". She said:

"Everybody is fine. There was only Ozzy, myself and the dogs in the house last night. At five o' clock, I heard a noise like metal had fallen. I thought it was my housekeeper coming in and she had dropped her keys on the tiles, that's what it sounded like, so I didn't pay any attention.

"A few minutes later, my eyes are stinging and my throat's closing up: 'Something's weird smelling in here'. Then my dog started to bark. I go downstairs and the whole living room was on fire. The candle had burst and the cracking sound was the glass and the candle exploding...My husband had an operation on his hand yesterday so he's in a complete cast...He comes down and goes: 'Oh, the fire, the fire!' and tries to put it out with his hand in the cast."

Osbourne continued: "Then he opens the French doors and I go into the kitchen and throw water on it and it erupted...Ozzy's front of his hair from his ear down is, gone! His eyebrows are gone...he's got like, skinned cheeks. We are, like, two idiots, it was like The Three Stooges...Everything you are not meant to do - go to bed with candles alight, open the doors and put water on - we did it all."

Sharon added that she apologised to the Black Sabbath rocker and told her audience to be careful with candles before going to bed.

Jack Osbourne revealed recently in an interview with People magazine that he has MS, saying that he was "angry and frustrated" by the shock news.

Father Ozzy told Hello! magazine that he himself was actually diagnosed with MS by doctors a "few years ago" - but it was actually a hereditary tremor. He said:

"[I was] misdiagnosed with MS a few years ago. It took them six months to work out I have a rare hereditary tremor called Parkin Syndrome."

Jack's mother Sharon meanwhile took to Conan O'Brien's talk show to give a positive outlook on her son's condition. She said:

"It's actually been a month and we kept it to ourselves for a month. He is actually doing amazing, he is so strong and positive...my son will conquer!"

The legendary rocker, who has been married to the former X-Factor judge for nearly 30 years, named his other half when asked by Kerrang magazine what his costliest purchase was before giving a more truthful answer:

"Alright, a Ferrari, I bought it about a year ago.

"Am I a good driver? I'm c**p, but I've got a Ferrari! I passed my test in Los Angeles after about 19 f**king attempts!"

The 63-year-old, who picked up the Inspiration Award with the rest of his Black Sabbath bandmates at this week’s Kerrang Awards, also went onto reveal the most outrageous demand he’s made on his rider request:

"In the early days of Black Sabbath, we'd ask for champagne and turkey. When we were kids, we'd have turkey just once a year, on Christmas Day. We thought we'd hit the big time, having turkey every day, so we'd end up having huge f**king food fights!" 

Ozzy, talking on the Boneyard radio station, spoke of Iommi's iron determination and merely put the diagnosis down as "just one of those trials in life".

And he added that he's told Iommi that if he dies, he is going to "kill him". He said:

"He's gonna beat it. What it's down to is determination, and believe me, this guy's got more determination than anybody I've ever met. It's gonna be fine. It's just one of those trials in life that happen, you know. He's got so much support, not only from each one of us in the band, but the fan base; it's unbelievable. He ain't gonna die, I'm telling you. I told him if he dies, I'm gonna kill him."

Black Sabbath announced late last year that they were reuniting for a new album and a world tour - and later confirmed that they were still continuing to write music despite Iommi's diagnosis. However, drummer Bill Ward recently went public with his concerns over his contract in the reunion and appeared to back out of the project.

Metallica are commemorating the career milestone with a series of special gigs at the Filmore, San Francisco.

And, as NME reports, the Black Sabbath duo, who have recently reformed the band, joined Metallica on stage last night (December 10) to play classic Sabbath tracks 'Iron Man' and 'Paranoid'. Bassist Geezer Butler also teamed up with Metallica to play 'Sabbra Cadabra'.

Ex-Metallica guitarist and current Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine also joined his old bandmates in a historic rendition of some of the band's early material.

There was much speculation as to whether or not they would get back together when they announced that they would hold a press conference on 11/11/11 at 11.11am but now they have confirmed that they will release a new album next year, their first in 33 years.

Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, who are all now in the 60s, will bring the new album out on the road as they go on a worldwide tour as well as a headling spot at the tenth anniversary of Download Festival in the UK.

Guitarist Tony Iommi has said that the reunion is "like putting on an old glove. It's fantastic”.

Butler said in February of this year that a reunion of any nature would never happen. 

Their next album will be the first record released since 1978's 'Never Say Die' and it will be produced by Rick Rubin.

Check out videos from Black Sabbath's press conference where they announced their 2012 reunion:

The four original members, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, will all be at the Whisky A Go-Go venue, on the anniversary of their first gig there in 1970.

The legendary metal group last recorded together in 2001 but the album was never released.

Rumours have been circulating that they will be announcing a reunion however, in February of this year, bassist Butler shot down all chances of that happening:

"I would like to make it clear, because of mounting speculation and rumors, that there will definitely be NO reunion of all four original members of Black Sabbath, whether to record an album or to tour".

However, in an interview with the Rolling Stone, the group's guitarist, Iommi did not deny or confirm the reunion rumours:

"There is no status at the moment...That's something that can always happen. We just get on with it and see what happens"

The announcement will take place on November 11 at 11.11 am (PDT).

Check out this live performance of 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath and 'Iron Man':

The 62-year-old superstar appeared on The Talk as a guest earlier this week and explained to the host that after being shown an educational video by his assistant on "cutting out meat and dairy products" he thought it might be beneficial to his fast-paced lifestyle:

"My assistant showed me a video called Forks and Knives (sic) or something, about (cutting out) meat and dairy products, so I thought, 'I'll give this a shot!'"

"I feel OK actually, I feel better about myself, you know? I go on binges... That's the reason why I decided to cut out meat out and dairy because I've limited what I can have because when you're on the road and you're travelling, you grab buns and... burgers are everywhere... so now I've just narrowed the margin."

When asked if this was going to be a significant turning point in his life, Ozzy added "I'm not saying I'm gonna do it forever; I might go back - when my wife learns to cook, so that'll be never!"

Osbourne once bit off a bat's head causing outrage but he later revealed he thought the animal, that had been thrown at him onto the stage by a fan, was just a toy.

He also opened up about his son Jack's recent engagement and gave some fatherly advice, and you can watch him talk about the exciting family news below:

To mark the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, wife and former X-Factor judge, Sharon recalled her personal feelings of the events while hosting her U.S. show 'The Talk on Thursday'. It was during this airing that she revealed details of the cross Ozzy was gifted from a team of brave firefighters.

Sharon commented, "That morning we went downstairs for breakfast. The kids and I. And we're in the dining room and there was Major Bloomberg... And then all of these men came and whispered in his ear... And he went off... And then we go upstairs, (and we're) watching the news and then we see what the whole world saw."

"You can't take like, this, 'Oh poor me, I'm so scared.' I was blessed that I had my family with me. But it leaves you totally numb. And to think now... 10 years later, it's still going on because our men and women from all over the world, not just here (in America), are still fighting."

"I can remember the day that it happened; we went up to the roof of the hotel and we were looking down 5th Avenue. There was nothing. There was nobody. There were no birds. There was nothing. It was silent. And that silence is terrifying."

"We got out of New York... and drove back to L.A.. And driving across the country it was unbelievable, just that same eerie silence."

But Ozzy couldn't stop thinking about the devastated people back on the East Coast and returned two weeks later to play a concert for the firemen and first responders - and his selfless act was graciously received.

"They made him this cross, which is made of one of the girdles from the South Tower. And when they gave it to him, it was two weeks later, literally, this isn't an exaggeration, it was still warm (from the burning)." 

Ozzy Osbourne's new documentary film, 'God Bless Ozzy Osbourne', is about to be publicly released and you can watch Ozzy's personal invitation here:

Talking about the pair's luck with lustrous and full hair to the Sunday Times magazine, the 'Crazy Train' singer admitted that while his own mane is thick and flowing it's never brought him the success that Jagger has enjoyed with the opposite sex:

"Mick Jagger doesn't have great hair because he's a hero in the sack, he's a hero in the sack because he's got great hair. Or so I'm told anyway."

"I've been blessed with very good hair genes, but I can't say it ever did me a lot of good in the Romeo department, most girls take one look at me, scream, then run away."

Osbourne was recently honoured at the 2011 Kerrang! Awards where he took home the Legend title and you can watch a clip from the new documentary on Osbourne's life, 'God Bless Ozzy Osbourne', here:

The 'Crazy Train' star will be given Kerrang!'s Legend Award on June 9 at the famous ceremony and will then go on to take the stage at the magazine's anniversary party, which will be held at London's HMV Hammersmith Apollo. Osbourne said of the honour:

"It's an incredible honour to be the second recipient of Kerrang!'s Legend Award,"

"and I'm looking forward to you all going 'fucking crazy' at the 30th Anniversary party at the Hammersmith Apollo!"

Watch his video for 'Let Me Hear You Scream' here: