Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne were among the first celebrities to publicly share their grief over Robin Williams‘ death, and for good reason: Williams earned the Osbournes’ eternal adoration with a gesture of kindness after Sharon’s cancer diagnosis in 2002.

“I’m forever in debt to Robin Williams,” Ozzy explained to VH1 Radio Network’s Dave Basner. “When Sharon was diagnosed with colon cancer, I’d seen the film ‘Patch Adams’ and it was a very — I don’t know if you ever saw that film he made. It’s about a guy who was a male nurse or something in a hospital and he was working with terminal people, and I thought, ‘What a great thing to do, and he’s a very funny man, Robin Williams.’ I got my agent to contact him and ask if he’d be so kind as to come around and talk to my wife, which he did. It was very nice of him.”

In a 2002 talk with National Enquirer, Sharon set the scene. “I was in bed when he came by, half asleep and a little woozy from some of the medication the doctors had given me to take Suddenly, there’s a knock on my bedroom door and I say, ‘Come in.’ And there’s Robin Williams standing in front of me,” she said. “Well, I thought I must be dreaming. In fact, I thought I was hallucinating from the drugs I’d been given! I couldn’t think of what to say, so I said, ‘Does Ozzy know you’re here?’ Then, Robin got in bed with me and said, ‘Shhh! No, he doesn’t and don’t tell him!’ Well, that just **** me up. I was in bed with Robin Williams. I started laughing hysterically. For the next two hours, he just cuddled me.”

It continues to be a precious memory for Sharon, who tweeted that “The entire Osbourne Family is grieving the loss of a kind, funny, generous and talented man.” As she told the Enquirer, “He was just the nicest, most giving guy in the world — he did so much for me.” Added Ozzy, “Forever and a day, I will love that man.”

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne Grateful for Robin Williams’ Kindness During Sharon’s Cancer Scare