Marie Osmond, the lone sister of some of the most famous singing brothers to have graced the stage, had to work hard to establish herself in the entertainment industry. By doing things her way, she won hearts all over the world—not without winning and losing hearts in her personal life. Her life was not all glamor and glamour. She’s faced abuse, criticism, grief, and tragic tragedy, but she’s never given up fighting. Marie Osmond’s story is fascinating, provocative, and at times painful.
Marie Osmond: A Fascinating And Heartfelt Journey
Big Brood
Born in 1959, Osbond was the lone female in a large family of nine siblings. She had seven elder brothers (Virl, Tom, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, and Donny) and one younger brother, the youngster who would become known as Little Jimmy. The entire family belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormons. It was a quiet church, but one that sparked debate in some quarters. These religious ties might cause Marie some problems in the future, but for the time being, she simply liked singing with her brothers, which their parents strongly encouraged.
Big Brood
Early Start
Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay were the first Osmond children to break into the music industry. They performed as a barbershop quartet known as the Osmond Brothers. Tom was profoundly deaf, and Virl was also hearing impaired. Initially, Donny, Marie, and Jimmy were too young. Marie made her public debut with the family ensemble at the age of four, on The Andy Williams Show in the early 1960s. She avoided the spotlight following her debut performance. It would be over a decade before she appeared on stage again.
Early Start
Dark Secret
It would be many years before Marie felt comfortable discussing it as an adult, but she was forced to bear a great burden as a result of someone’s actions during her childhood. While she has stated unequivocally that it was not her father, siblings, or any other relative, Osmond claims she was the victim of sexual assault from a young age. The abuse shattered Osmond’s trust in men and instilled animosity in her mother. The Osmond family was portrayed in the media as an idealistic union, but young Marie Osmond felt let down by her family’s failure, particularly her mother’s, to recognize what was happening to her and do anything to stop it.
Dark Secret
Difficult Questions
“I had been sexually abused to the point where men made me sick,” Marie Osmond later revealed. “I did not trust or like them. I struggled with body issues and questioned why I was looking at women. “I must be gay.” Osmond made these statements years later, at the age of 60, in response to Miley Cyrus’ controversial speech. “There are nice men out there, gentlemen; don’t give up. You don’t have to be gay; there are fine people with [penises] out there; you just need to find them.” Miley stated. Cyrus later stressed that she knew that sexuality was not something you chose, but the words nonetheless disturbed Osmond, who had been battling with her own in the aftermath of her childhood tragedy.
Difficult Questions
Country Star
Marie Osmond’s debut solo song was released in 1973. Her brothers’ group had already achieved great success. The Osmonds, as they were now known, had selected a pop-rock sound for their songs, but Marie wanted to try something else. Marie Osmond began her career with a country song, which was a gamble given the limited market she chose. “Paper Roses” was released in 1973 and immediately rose to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It also peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and second on the UK singles chart, with success in Australia and Canada. The subsequent album, also titled Paper Roses, mirrored the success, hitting number one on the US country charts and number two in the UK.
Country Star
Donny & Marie
Marie Osmond, now a star in her own right, was given with an opportunity that she and her family couldn’t pass up. Donny Osmond, her brother, had become the most popular heartthrob among their fans. The thought of putting the teenage brother and sister on stage together and capitalizing on their combined attraction was too tempting to pass up. Donny and Marie recorded and released “I’m Leaving It Up to You” and “Morning Side of the Mountain” as duets in 1974. As expected, they were both major hits, as was the accompanying album, I’m Leaving It All Up To You. In 1975, the two young stars had their own variety television show, Donny & Marie. It seems that everything they touched turned to gold.
Donny & Marie
Occupational Harassment
Marie Osmond was only 16 years old when the first episode of Donny & Marie aired, but that didn’t stop older males from making her days on set quite uncomfortable. She later claimed how numerous guest stars treated her sexually, with comedian Groucho Marx standing out as a particularly notable example of being “a dirty old man” after pinching her. If that wasn’t enough, producers kept telling her she needed to lose weight. They described her as “obese” and “disgusting and a disgrace”. She weighed 103 pounds and was still only a teenager.
Occupational Harassment
Marie And Donni Won’t Ever Get Back Together
“It was always assumed that Donny and Marie would get back together,” Donny explained in an interview. However, he stated that the two siblings will never collaborate again. “I miss working with her because we had such a rapport onstage, but that whole era is passed,” says Osmond. “It’s gone; it’s done.” Do not fear, the split is quite professional. In November 2020, Donnie resorted to social media and said “TOGETHER AGAIN!” Words cannot convey how wonderful it was to see my lovely sister at my show on Saturday night at Harrah’s Las Vegas…someone called out, “Sing I’m A Little Bit Country, I’m A Little Bit Rock & Roll”…we performed our theme song together once more. The audience went crazy…I’ll remember that moment for the rest of my life. Thank you, Sister. “I love you.”
Marie And Donni Won’t Ever Get Back Together
The Children of Marie Will Not Receive an Inheritance
Marie has expressed her desire for her seven children to generate their own riches since she believes that individuals who get money “breed laziness and entitlement”. She said that she does not intend to leave an inheritance for her children. “Honestly, why would you let your child not try to be anything? “I don’t know anyone who becomes anything if they are simply given money,” Osmond remarked. She goes on to say, “The greatest gift you can give your child is a desire to discover and work on who they are inside. I mean, I’ve done so many things, including designing dolls [and much more]. I enjoy experimenting, and I want to try everything. “I am a finisher.
The Children of Marie Will Not Receive an Inheritance
Kindred Spirit
On top of what appeared to be ongoing sexual and psychological abuse, the 16-year-old Marie Osmond was working up to 20 hours a day, not only presenting but also memorizing scripts, songs, and dance movements. More than anything else, she wanted a companion who understood her situation. Miraculously, one appeared. Lucille Ball may have been a little older when she began her television career, but she was just 15 when she first attended theater school. She had been through everything that Osmond was going through, and she was familiar with how the entertainment industry worked. Ball and Osmond became close after the television star appeared as a guest on the teenager’s show. It was the friendship that Osmond desperately needed.
Kindred Spirit
Movie School Dropout
Olvia Newton-John’s debut as Sandy in the 1978 smash musical Grease catapulted her to global megastardom, despite her already established singing career. Most people are unaware that the part was first offered to Marie Osmond, not the English-born Australian. Despite being attracted by the opportunity, Osmond declined the role because she felt uncomfortable with the narrative of a “good girl” turning “bad” in order to impress a guy. Osmond had strong feelings about gender roles and how they should be carried out, as evidenced by statements she made shortly afterwards.
Movie School Dropout
Divisive Beliefs
“[A house] needs a patriarch,” Marie Osmond said Barbara Walters in 1978 in response to concerns about her Mormon faith. Osmond went on to say that having opinions and speaking up was “the man’s job”. It was a divisive viewpoint in the late 1970s, and it did nothing to improve public perceptions of the Osmonds and their church. Unfortunately, this was not the end of the conversation. When Walters inquired about the ban prohibiting black people from joining the Mormon priesthood, Donny Osmond intervened to assure his host that this was “how the Lord wants it”. As you may expect, there was a considerable pushback.
Divisive Beliefs
Playing the Field
The Mormon church may have had limits, but it did not ban Marie Osmond from dating outside the faith, even if it reserved the right to condemn her decisions. Between 1979 and 1982, Osmond made the most of her independence as she searched for the love of her life. She became engaged to an acting student called Jeff Crayton shortly before her 20th birthday, but the relationship ended just a month later. Osmond later had other flings with prominent actors and musicians, including Erik Estrada from the television show CHiPs and Andy Gibb, a Bee Gees brother. She finally found her man, or so she believed. Osmond married Stephen Craig, a Brigham Young University basketball player, on June 26, 1982. A year later, they had a son, Stephen.
Playing The Field
Quick Comeback
Although Marie Osmond had achieved remarkable success in the 1970s, the new decade was a different story. After her cooperation with Donny ended, Marie was forced to watch her singles receive decreasing attention. As each record struggled to make an effect outside of the country charts, where they were steadily dropping, it appeared that Marie Osmond’s musical career had come to an end. That’s when she dropped her fifth solo studio album, There’s No Stopping Your Heart. Both the 1985 album and three of its singles became enormous country hits, rekindling Osmond’s career just as it appeared all was gone.
Quick Comeback
Out With the Old
Marie Osmond’s first marriage did not turn out to be the lifelong relationship she had dreamed for. She and Stephen Craig divorced in October 1985, just over three years after they married. Almost precisely a year later, on October 28, 1986, Osmond walked down the aisle of Utah’s Jordan River Temple with a new man. Osmond and Brian Blosil had two biological children: a daughter named Rachael and a son named Matthew. They also expanded their family via adopting. The Mormon couple formally adopted five children: Jessica, Michael, Brandon, Brianna, and Abigail, making Marie Osmond the mother of eight. This marriage lasted more than 20 years and ended in divorce in 2007.
Out With The Old
Dark Days
Following the birth of one of her children with Brian Blosil, Marie Osmond began to experience some worrisome symptoms. These included self-pity, despair, crippling weariness, and “uncontrollable shaking”. Her doctors diagnosed postpartum depression, which is today considered to afflict ten to twenty percent of women. In addition, her career appeared to be sinking again, this time permanently. Country music had evolved, and Osmond’s pop flair no longer worked. By the beginning of the 1990s, Osmond’s career in music appeared to be coming to an end.
Dark Days
Donny & Marie Again
Marie Osmond reunited with her brother to restart their Donny & Marie program in 1998, hoping to discover something that would work for her. In another setback for the lone Osmond daughter, things did not go as well the second time around. Marie realized that her brother approached the production like a tyrant, yelling the odds and pushing his sister’s suggestions to the sidelines. Marie, now older and more experienced, was less tolerant of this, and sibling squabbles escalated into disruptive arguments. Marie, for her part, had become something of a diva, continually requesting larger dressing rooms or lighting modifications to improve her appearance on TV. The Osmonds hired a director to help keep things on track, but they shouldn’t have bothered; the concert was a fiasco nevertheless.
Donny & Marie Again
Bad to Worse
When the renewed show with Donny failed, Marie Osmond moved to radio. In 2004, as the host of Marie and Friends, Osmond began broadcasting on adult contemporary radio in the hopes of gaining momentum with the grown-up admirers who had supported her at the beginning of her career. It did not work, and the show was cancelled after less than a year. Then, in August 2006, Osmond was suddenly admitted to the hospital. With no evident reason or explanation, the reporters drew their own assumptions. Rumors of a suicide attempt spread swiftly, prompting Osmond’s public relations staff to release a statement claiming she had an unpleasant response to prescribed medication.
Bad To Worse
Dancing Diet
Marie Osmond may have rightfully pushed back against her teenage producers’ criticisms about her weight, but in 2007, she embarked on a campaign to lose weight. While competing on season five of Dancing with the Stars, Osmond reportedly shed approximately 50 pounds. She also finished third owing to her followers’ weekly telephone polls. Osmond told interviewers that she reduced weight to improve her health and reduce her risk of developing heart disease, which runs in her family. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, either. Osmond shocked everyone when she fainted during filming the show’s fifth episode. While winning third place was a major accomplishment, Marie Osmond would have to endure being overshadowed by one of her brothers once more. Donny, of all her siblings, won the challenge in season nine.
Dancing Diet
Shots Fired
Just after Marie Osmond’s career took off, she signed a management contract with Karl Engemann. He also took on the job of managing Donny, Jimmy, and the Osmond Brothers as a group. By 1979, he had taken over the personal management of every family member who was performing at the time. Engemann’s partnership with Marie lasted 30 years before it soured in 2009. Osmond accused Engemann of defrauding her financially. Engemann filed a countersuit for unpaid payments. Things grew messy and had to be settled through arbitration. Another bad stain in Osmond’s life and career, adding to an already long list.
Shots Fired
Speaking Up
Despite her 1978 remarks about speaking up being “the man’s job,” the older and wiser Marie Osmond of 2009 was not going to be silenced on a subject she cared about. That year, Jessica, Osmond’s daughter, came out as a lesbian. Osmond quickly issued a public statement expressing her support not only for her daughter, but for the entire LGBTQ+ community. Osmond stood up, stating that she did not believe a person’s sexual orientation should affect their right to happiness and success in life.
Speaking Up
Tragedy
Marie Osmond had a difficult first decade of the twenty-first century, which only worsened in its final year. She spent 2009 sticking up for her daughter, and 2010 mourning her son. Michael, whom Osmond adopted with her ex-husband Brian Blosil, has spent his entire life dealing with depression and addiction. His difficulties began so early that he underwent his first phase of rehabilitation at the age of 12. Michael committed suicide on February 26, 2010, by leaping from the eighth floor of his Los Angeles apartment building. Marie Osmond returned to the stage just two weeks later, appearing alongside Donny during their Las Vegas show. “The way we Osmonds survive is to keep singing,” she explained. “And I know my son would want that” .
Tragedy
Back Together
In the midst of all this misery, Marie Osmond discovered something unique in an unusual location. Four years after divorcing her second husband and one year after losing her son, Osmond put on her original wedding dress from 1982 and walked down the aisle again. The garment was not the only thing sharing a chapel with her for the second time; the guy waiting to exchange rings with her was her first husband, Stephen Craig. Osmond and Craig remarried in a small ceremony at the Las Vegas Nevada Temple. A few months later, as husband and wife, they attended their son Stephen’s wedding.
Back Together
Back on the Box
After a five-year hiatus, Marie Osmond returned to America’s TV screens in 2012. Ladies and gentlemen, first there was a one-off special… Marie Osmond, followed by a Hallmark Channel chat show titled Marie. With Osmond as host, the show received 320,000 viewers, setting a channel record, although it did not last long. After only 150 episodes, Marie was canceled. Osmond capitalized on her momentum by guest hosting The Talk alongside Sara Gilbert, Leah Remini, and Sharon Osbourne. It was a hit, and in 2019, Osmond was named permanent host. It was, like much of her later career, short-lived. Following on-screen conflicts with Osbourne, Osmond announced her departure from the program in 2020.
Back On The Box
Star Treatment
Although Donny and Marie Osmond were no longer recording songs together and their television program had ended, they remained popular in Las Vegas for many years. After more than a decade of leading a variety show in the famous gambling city, the brother and sister team had their names engraved on a star. On October 4, 2019, a Donny & Marie star was placed on the iconic Las Vegas Strip Walk of Stars. As a result, each year on October 4th, Sin City celebrates Donny & Marie Day.
Star Treatment
No Hand-Me-Downs
Marie Osmond has always recognized how fortunate she is to have amassed such money and realized the need of giving back. Osmond launched the Children’s Miracle Network in the early 1980s with John Schneider, an actor from The Dukes of Hazzard, to generate funds for children’s hospitals across America. Osmond also has plans for her money once she dies, and has publicly indicated that it would all be donated to charitable organizations. Her own offspring, she has stated, should not anticipate a postmortem handout and will need to forge their own paths in life.
No Hand Me Downs
Plenty to Give
So, how much money do charity stand to gain if Marie dies and her children do not? While she has had her ups and downs, Osmond has spent the majority of her life as a successful singer and television personality, which comes with financial rewards. Osmond has also written three best-selling books. According to Celebrity Net Worth, this comes up to a comfortable fortune of approximately $20 million. Not a bad windfall for the causes she decides to include in her will, and it will undoubtedly help do some wonderful things for many deserving individuals.
Plenty To Give