Osbourne Stopped Cheating After Hiv Scare

The ex-Black Sabbath frontman took full advantage of his rock 'n' roll lifestyle in his heyday and freely admits to cheating on his manager wife Sharon Osbourne.

But he quickly turned his back on his wild ways after one night of unprotected sex in a Hollywood hotel back in the early 1980s left him facing a bleak future.

In his new memoir I Am Ozzy, the rocker recalls undergoing a HIV test on the advice of his doctor - but he was not prepared to hear the results.

He tells the National Enquirer, "I f**king freaked! At the time, I believed it was only gay people who got HIV, and now the doctor tells me I have the bloody plague!

"It was like he'd handed me a death sentence! I literally sank to my knees and wanted to throw up. I was a mess."

Laboratory technicians soon called to reveal the test was "borderline positive" and told Osbourne he should undergo a second test for accuracy - with results returned within a week.

Osbourne almost refused the test because he was already seriously contemplating taking his own life.

He says, "I told him quite seriously, 'Look doctor, I can't wait that long because I'll have killed myself by then.' And I would have."

Osbourne eventually relented and a second HIV test came back negative - and that was enough to scare him into being faithful.

He adds, "What happened was that I was doing so many drugs, my immune system was depressed. So it appeared I was HIV positive!

"But I can tell you, that was the end of my career as a Casanova. I never cheated on Sharon again."