Sharon Osbourne reveals husband Ozzy was asked to audition for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ but she didn’t let him

Sharon Osbourne‘s biggest mistake in managing the career of her husband Ozzy Osbourne could have been a costly one.

“He got offered to go and read for Pirates of the Caribbean, and I’ve never said this to anyone,” she said on Wednesday’s edition of The Magnificent Others With Billy Corgan. “I said no. Now wouldn’t he have been perfect? Because when Johnny … wanted Keith to be a pirate, you remember?”

The Smashing Pumpkins rocker said that of course he did.

The “Johnny” she was referring to was Johnny Depp, who’s portrayed Captain Jack Sparrow throughout the franchise, which started with Pirates of the Caribbean — The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and led to Dead Man’s Chest (2006); At World’s End (2007); On Stranger Tides (2011); and 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales. The swashbuckling films, based on the ride of the same name at Disney parks, collectively raked in more than $1.4 billion in theaters, according to Box Office Mojo. And that’s not even including the merchandise. Plus, producer Jerry Bruckheimer told EW in May that two different movies based on the franchise are in the works.

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And of course the “Keith” she also mentioned was none other than Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who played Sparrow’s father, Captain Teague, in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Artist Paul McCartney popped up, too, as Uncle Jack, in Dead Men Tell No Tales.

About the time Richards appeared in the movies, which costarred Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, and many other big-name actors, Ozzy was attracting a lot of attention for his family’s MTV reality show, The Osbournes. He revealed in July 2020 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and retired from touring in February 2023, citing a spinal injury he’d struggled with for four years.

Black Sabbath, Osbourne’s longtime band, announced this month that the original members will reunite onstage for the first time in 20 years for Ozzy’s final concert on July 5 at Villa Park in Ozzy’s native Birmingham, England.

Watch Osbourne tell Corgan about the audition she stopped about 54 minutes into the video below.