Donny Osmond: ‘I’m a survivor and have the scars to prove it’
Donny Osmond returns with his sister, Marie Osmond, to their Flamingo showroom tonight for a run of their residency dates through Nov. 5. He’s just returned from a solo “Soundtrack of My Life Tour” of Britain, which was 45 years since he was with his brothers for their first-ever tour there. Fanatical teens mobbed them wherever they went.
It came a few weeks after they had performed for The Queen at The Royal Variety Gala, and at that time there was no hysteria. Then in June 1972, along came “Puppy Love” to change Donny’s life forever. Incredibly, fans 53 years on still mobbed him on this latest trip. Donny was just 6 years old when he sang for the first time on “The Andy Williams Show.”
“It’s been the most fulfilling tour,” the 59-year-old entertainer told my former Fleet Street newspaper, The Daily Mail. The British shows each ran two hours and covered all five decades of his career. “I’m one of the lucky few who can say that they’ve been relatively relevant in show business for over half a century,” he added. “I’m a survivor and have the scars to prove it.”
Donny underwent surgery to remove a polyp on his vocal chords when he feared that he’d never sing again. “My voice is now back to full strength,” he said. Then he was warned that he’d be left with a limp and never dance again when a tendon pulled away from his hip bone while on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” which he won in Season 9 in 2009 with Kym Johnson.
Donny has been married to his wife, Debbie, for 38 years, and they have five children and eight grandchildren. “We have this saying, ‘Whenever there is an argument, she is always right.’ We may have had five boys, but she raised six — and she’s still raising me.”
He summed up: “Yes, there’s Donny the performer, but the balance away from that is the normality of being father, husband, grandfather and neighbor. I mow the lawn, take out the trash and play with the grandkids. It would have been very easy for me to lose it and get caught up in the hype and excesses.
“But I’ve never smoked, drunk or taken drugs. My strong faith and upbringing kept me on a pretty straight path. It’s ironic that I was mocked for years for being uncool. Because of that, but without wanting to sound smug, which I’m not, I think that I’ve had the last laugh, and we’re still selling out.”