On July 31st, Marilyn Manson and his wife Lindsay Warner were among 110 invited guests of Ozzy Osbourne's nearest and dearest to attend his private funeral at his 250-acre estate near Gerrards Cross. Guests were sent a simple black invitation with a picture of a cross that read: “In loving memory of Ozzy Osbourne.” They were transported from The Crowne Plaza and The Bull in Gerrards Cross to the house at 2pm, with the service starting at 3pm. Pictures of Ozzy were dotted throughout the house and a photograph of him was given to everyone who attended to take home with them. A huge floral tribute was seen at the mansion that spelled out “Ozzy fucking Osbourne.” Fans left tributes at the gate of the estate. The ceremony comes just one day after Osbourne’s family and friends came together in Birmingham, England, for a funeral procession. At the private funeral on Thursday, a slew of famous musicians paid tribute to the heavy metal icon, including Osbourne’s Black Sabbath bandmat...
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Throughout his career, Marilyn Manson has been asked by various interviewers about things he regrets, and in lyrics of his songs he has talked about both regretting and not regretting, but the last time he was asked about his regrets was in 2019, in an interview for the German magazine Numero Homme Berlin (Spring/Summer 2019) for which he graced the cover. I translated his response below:
Sina Braetz: Looking back, what do you regret most about your life?
Marilyn Manson: I regret that I was naive enough to let people believe that my kindness was weakness and that I allowed them to take advantage of it. Many people believed that I was actually stupid or naive because I was so friendly and they betrayed me. But that was my fault, not theirs. That's why I regret not having been competent enough to understand that my desire to have companionable friendship - or whatever you want to call it - to have friends or family, made me make a lot of mistakes that I wish I hadn't made. But I learned from it and try not to repeat these mistakes.
To me, this can be interpreted in a few relevant ways. I won't explore what it could specifically refer to, since he didn't get into the details. But I do think there is a lot of truth to it, and there are quite a few examples where I know this could be applied, both in his past romantic relationships and his friendships. It is certainly seen in the various accusations made against him in the past few years, especially when accusers have twisted the truth to interpret an act of kindness from years ago into a heinous crime that is absolutely baseless. And it should not be lost on us how quickly and unquestionably many associated with him were to embrace these accusers falsehoods when they became public, adding to the betrayals in an unprecedented way beyond what he was referring to in 2019.
Sina Braetz: Looking back, what do you regret most about your life?
Marilyn Manson: I regret that I was naive enough to let people believe that my kindness was weakness and that I allowed them to take advantage of it. Many people believed that I was actually stupid or naive because I was so friendly and they betrayed me. But that was my fault, not theirs. That's why I regret not having been competent enough to understand that my desire to have companionable friendship - or whatever you want to call it - to have friends or family, made me make a lot of mistakes that I wish I hadn't made. But I learned from it and try not to repeat these mistakes.
To me, this can be interpreted in a few relevant ways. I won't explore what it could specifically refer to, since he didn't get into the details. But I do think there is a lot of truth to it, and there are quite a few examples where I know this could be applied, both in his past romantic relationships and his friendships. It is certainly seen in the various accusations made against him in the past few years, especially when accusers have twisted the truth to interpret an act of kindness from years ago into a heinous crime that is absolutely baseless. And it should not be lost on us how quickly and unquestionably many associated with him were to embrace these accusers falsehoods when they became public, adding to the betrayals in an unprecedented way beyond what he was referring to in 2019.