Ozzy Osbourne stopped breathing after his quad bike accident earlier this week and had to be revived by a security guard.
The rock legend's wife, Sharon, said in an interview: "He had stopped breathing for a minute and a half and there was no pulse. But thank God the security guard was there to revive him. He resuscitated him and got him breathing and his pulse going again".
Osbourne (55) is on a hospital ventilator after he fell off his all-terrain bike at his Buckinghamshire country estate, fracturing eight ribs and a vertebra in his neck.
"He has got such horrendous injuries to his body. His whole body is traumatised," said Osbourne's wife.
Former Black Sabbath singer Osbourne, who has mellowed from wild man of heavy rock to comical much-loved star of his reality TV series The Osbournes, underwent emergency surgery following the crash.
"The doctors are hoping there hasn't been any lasting damage but until Ozzy can actually come round and get off the ventilator and talk then will they know," Sharon added.