Ozzy Osbourne had a legendary reputation for his extreme drug and alcohol use, but he says there are two names he couldn’t even contend with.
Osbourne wrote a new book before he passed away at age 76 on July 22, 2025. The book, titled Last Rites, was published posthumously, and one passage featured Osbourne speaking about his relationship with Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, who had his own reputation for drinking and partying.
Osbourne said Kilmister was the “one guy I just could not keep up with,” then named pro wrestling great Andre the Giant as the only other person who could outdrink him.
“It was nuts. I couldn’t do it. Lemmy was the one guy I just could not keep up with. I didn’t even wanna try, man. It was a catastrophic level of partying,” Osbourne wrote. “Actually… there was one other guy I couldn’t keep up with. Andre the Giant. But that was different. If you’ve ever seen The Princess Bride, he’s the guy who played the seven foot four character, Fezzik. I met Andre when I did an appearance with the British Bulldogs wrestling team at WrestleMania, a few years after Blizzard of Ozz.
“Andre had a condition known as acromegaly, I believe, when you basically don’t stop growing. He wasn’t just tall, he was also heavy — like five hundred pounds or something. The guy would drink whole jugs of vodka and cranberry — and while he was sitting there, waiting for ‘em to be made, he’d get through a six-pack of beer. The guy was physically incapable of getting drunk. There’s a story out there that he once drank sixteen bottles of plum wine during a four-hour bus ride, then he got off and did three wrestling matches. Having been out with him a couple of times, I don’t doubt it. Sadly he didn’t live very long. He died of heart failure at forty-six.”
Andre the Giant had a storied reputation for his ability to consume alcohol. One story that has been spread over the years said that Andre once drank 119 beers in a single night.
During an appearance on Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon, rock photographer Mark “Weissguy” Weiss shared a story about how Ozzy and Andre went out drinking one night. They ended up drinking so much that they both passed out, which caused Zakk Wylde to miss an audition.
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