Not So Sweet and Innocent: The Real Truth Behind the Osmonds' Showbiz Story

The Osmonds are known throughout the world as the quintessential all-American family. The all-singing, all-dancing super talented group have dominated the music charts, TV shows, and other media for over six decades, and have become something of a national institution. But despite rising to fame thanks to their clean-cut personas, their real life was very different to the shiny surface they projected on screen—as revealed years later by each of the siblings. Let’s take a look back at the real truth behind this supposedly squeaky-clean superstar family.

Family Affair

The Osmonds singing group was put together by George Virl Osmond, Sr. and Olive Osmond, of Ogden, Utah. George and Olive had nine children together, and raised them in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as the Mormons. These children—Virl, Tom, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie, and Jimmy—would prove to be instrumental in the family’s plan for world domination. But the truth of the Osmond clan’s rise to fame would surprise even the most ardent of fans.

Talented Tots

Even from a young age, it was clear that the Osmond kids were destined for stardom. In 1958, the middle four brothers—Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay—started gaining local fame as a barbershop quartet, performing in and around their town of Ogden. Quickly, the family began to gain reputation for being musically gifted—not to mention having a unique stage presence. But only one question remained—why weren’t Virl and Tom part of this singing group? The truth was that behind the scenes, the older two boys had inspired the musical journey in a very different way.

Tone Deaf

The truth was, that the two oldest Osmond brothers could not join in with the singing, because not only could they not sing, but they could not hear either—that’s right, Virl and Tom were both born deaf. In fact, it was due to this fact that the other Osmonds started touring in the first place—as a middle-income family, they could not afford the heavy prices of hearing aids for their beloved sons, so they decided to turn to showbiz to raise the money for it. In fact, growing up, the Osmonds all used to communicate with each other in sign language!

TV Stars

It wasn’t long before the Osmond brothers broke into TV. During a performance at Disneyland, they caught the eye of none other than the father of Andy Williams, who recommended them to his son. Sure enough, the Osmonds joined Williams on his show, becoming regular fixtures for the next seven years. Before long, Donny joined them, before Marie and Jimmy, too. During this time the family was nicknamed the “one-take Osmonds”, because their delivery and performance was always so perfect. Talk about a family of professionals!

Branching Out

After many years on The Andy Williams Show and gaining a name for themselves as popular variety performers, the Osbornes decided that they wanted to try their hand at pop music and enter the music charts as professionals. For the Osbornes’ father, this was a bit of a shock—after all, he was super traditional and wasn’t sure how he felt about his children entering the world of rock and roll. However, he trusted his children, so they headed off in this new direction with his blessing.

Blossoming Career

The Osmonds, now that they had their father’s approval to head into a career in pop music, recorded their first single with the successful music label UNI Records in 1967. Entitled “Flower Music” with a b-side of “I Can’t Stop”, the track was released to modest reaction from critics and audiences. Happy with their perfectly respectable sales for the track, the Osmonds regarded their foray into pop as a success—but they had no idea the levels of stardom they were about to attain.

Bursting Bubbles

Even though the Osmonds were already signed to UNI Records, they soon caught the eye of another record producer, by the name of Mike Curb, who thought that they would be perfect for industry giants MGM. Sure enough, he managed to help them get signed there, and record their first major label studio single. In 1970, the Osmonds released "One Bad Apple"—a song originally written for the Jackson Five. But it was the Osmonds who made it a hit, reaching the number one spot—and this hit turned the Osmonds into stars.

The Sound of Success

In the years that followed their meteoric rise to fame, the Osmonds continued to turn out mega smash hits, topping the charts and gaining millions of fans. Releasing singles like "Double Lovin'", "Yo-Yo", "Sweet and Innocent", "Go Away Little Girl", "I Knew You When", and "Puppy Love", the band constantly mixed up which of the brothers would be the lead singer for the songs, meaning that no one was considered the lead of the band, but rather it was a family affair. And not only that, but older brother Virl had a part too—he was the one who taught everyone to dance!

Rock and Roll Stars

Now that the Osmonds were firmly established as major stars in bubblegum pop and RnB-infused tracks, they decided to try their hand at a more rock-inspired, edgier sound. Their albums Phase III and Crazy Horses had a much harder rock sound, even with some heavy-metal inspired instrumental! The Osmonds wrote all these songs themselves, and the more personal injection proved a massive success—they became even more of a worldwide sensation, with some critics coining the term “Osmondmania”, in reference to the Beatles’ “Beatlemania” in the previous decade.

Back to the Box

From 1972 to 1973, the Osmonds weren’t just everywhere in terms of the carts and glossy magazines. They also returned to starring roles in TV—but in a very different way to what people were used to! The Osmonds premiered on ABC-TV in 1972, and was a Saturday-morning cartoon series, featuring animated versions of the pop sensations. During this time, the group also broke the UK—charting 13 singles in the charts in one year! But little did they know that their fame and fortune was about to take an unexpected dip.

Going Solo

Around this time, the Osmonds had become so popular as a family unit, that each of the siblings wanted to try carving out a solo career on each of their own accords. The first one to branch out was Jimmy, who had hits in the UK and Japan with his solo ventures. Next came Marie, who hit out on her own in the country music charts with the single “Paper Roses”. But it was Donny who really made it big on his own—scoring 12 top 40 hits during the years 1971-1976. Donny, now a huge star, started being billed as the band’s lead singer—but this would lead to unforeseen problems down the line.

A New Voice

Around this time, young and beloved Donny Osmond wasn’t just your ordinary teenager. He was a worldwide sensation adored across the world! But in other ways, he was just like anyone else, and as happens to all boys around fourteen years old, Donny’s voice broke. This changed the sound of the group’s songs forever—with his new deep voice, the sweet bubblegum pop sounds that had propelled them to fame, just didn’t have the same charm. In 1973 they released an album called The Plan, but things did not go according to any plan here…

Tough Times

Even though the Osmonds reached levels of fame and fortune that most aspiring singers can only dream of, the truth was that behind the scenes, things were not always as rosy as they seemed for the starry siblings. Years later, Marie Osmond opened up about how difficult it had been growing up in the spotlight. “I didn’t have a childhood because I had a different kind of life,” she said to Play Radio 1. “I didn’t have a normal dating life or friends, but I don’t know that anyone’s life is perfect.” But as the years went on, Marie Osmond’s life would stray even further from perfect than most people could imagine.

Mixed Memories

And Marie wasn’t the only Osmond sibling who later spoke out about how difficult it had been growing up with such fame and fortune from an incredibly young age. Jimmy Osmond also opened up about how hard it was at a young child not to have a permanent place to call home. “The home I grew up in was a string of hotel rooms across the world,” he said to the Independent. “I don’t remember my first home, which was somewhere in Los Angeles.” And that’s not the only hardship Jimmy remembers from his years of teen stardom.

Missing Millions

Many years later, Jimmy Osmond also revealed that though one of his singles, “Long Haired Lover from Liverpool” sold over a million copies, he did not receive any money from these staggering sales. “I have never made a penny from it,” he said to the Sunday Telegraph. “Our business is not a fair business. Today it’s different and artists do get those big royalty cheques but we sold 100 million records and the money we made on record sales is peanuts compared with what you would make selling your own merchandise at a concert or just getting a fee to perform.”

Just Say No

And the revelations from that wild time don’t stop there. Another of the famous Osmond siblings, Donny, admitted years later that he had been lured down a dark path in the early years of his career. Even though the Osmonds had risen to fame thanks to their clean-cut image, Donny later revealed that he had been encouraged to dabble in drink and drugs, to fit in with the new trend for wild rock and roll stars. "I’m so glad I didn’t do it," he said to the Mirror. "That would have earned me some street cred for five minutes but then I would have become a laughing stock."

Girl Trouble

And that wasn’t the only secret scandal from the Osmonds’ glory days that would not be revealed until years later. Despite always appearing the best of friends, Donny Osmond revealed that he had once been in a love triangle with his brother. “I was dating a girl named Tammy and my brother, Jay, had taken out a girl called Debbie,” he said to the Mirror. “We double-dated at an Elton John concert and I remember looking over at Jay and Debbie during Your Song and thought, ‘I’m going to marry her someday”. But Jay must have eventually given his blessing—as Donny and Debbie have been married for 42 years!

Fall from Grace

Despite, or perhaps because of, the Osmonds’ refusal to change their morals and outlooks to fit in with the current trends of the time, the squeaky-clean pop group found themselves declining in popularity towards the end of the 70s. In 1976, Osmondmania was officially no more—it had been replaced by “Rollermania”, a frenzied fan madness for the new band of the moment, the Bay City Rollers. The Osmonds knew that their time at the top of the charts was over—but that didn’t mean the end of the journey.

Screen Time

After it seemed that their pop career was on the wane, the Osmonds decided it was time to return to the medium that had first made them famous—the world of television. Once again working together as a family team, they came up with a new TV show, produced by the older brothers and presented by Donny and Marie. The Donny & Marie Show premiered on ABC in 1976 and was an instant hit. But the increased fame came at a great cost, with Donny admitting that he suffered from stage anxiety. But this was just the tip of the iceberg of the behind-the-scenes suffering.

Body Shaming

The success of The Donny & Marie Show helped keep the Osmonds at the top of public favor, but behind the scenes, the star siblings were feeling the pressure. And none more than Marie—who later revealed that she was put under terrible pressure to lose weight. “One day, I was taken out into a parking lot and one of the studio people told me that if I didn’t drop 10 pounds, they were going to cancel the show,” she revealed to Closer Weekly. “They said I was an embarrassment to my family and I needed to keep the food out of my fat face.” And this would only be the beginning of a downward spiral for the star sister.

Hard Times

Marie Osborne was incredibly upset by the comments on her weight and appearance, and the cruel treatment she received actually led to her developing an eating disorder. “This sent me on a head trip, that 250 people could lose their jobs because of me,” she said. And Marie later revealed that she had also been abused during her childhood—resulting in mental health struggles that would continue throughout her life. “I had been abused to the point that men, they made me sick," she revealed to USA Today.

Sudden Blow

And things were about to go from bad to worse for the beloved Osborne clan. Though things behind the scenes were getting pretty difficult for all of them, at least they had the success of their show to keep their spirits up. But then in 1979, the siblings were stunned when the show was abruptly and suddenly cancelled. Attempts to revive their music careers flopped too when albums such as Steppin’ Out failed to chart in any country. From the most famous faces in the world—the Osmonds suddenly found themselves nobodies.

Crushing Defeat

Donny Osmond recalled in his autobiography, Life is Just What You Make It: My Story So Far, just how devastating it was for him and his siblings to crash out of the showbiz circuit so suddenly and definitively. "Everyone tells us and we all like to think—that if we achieve that one big goal, realize that single golden dream, everything else in our lives will come together,” he wrote. “I believed that, and so when personal fulfillment didn't follow … when the dream stopped working, I felt so utterly lost and abandoned."

Money Matters

And it wasn’t just the matter of losing their fame that the Osmonds had to contend with. Being honest and trusting, they soon discovered they had been taken massively for granted by unscrupulous showbiz execs—and had lost a huge amount of money. “We lost about $80m, maybe $100m in today’s money,” Jimmy Osmond told the Sunday Telegraph. “We were taken advantage of by our advisers but my dad would never sue them. He was never that kind of man. His handshake was as good as a contract and he was a great example to me.”

Real Riches

Of course, being the Osmonds, they knew that nothing could keep them down for too long. The talented stars got to work recovering their careers and fortunes. In fact, Jimmy later said that losing that money was the best thing that could have happened to them. “It made us really appreciate how to manage money and it forced us to refocus,” he said. “We’d got to the point where we could have our own airplanes, and your attitude changes when you have that kind of money … It was a wonderful thing, because my brothers are the most humble guys you will ever meet.”

Back on Top

Thanks to hard work and perseverance, the Osmonds found themselves working their way back to the top of the showbiz ladder. Sure enough, the band performed at The Front Row Theatre in Highland Heights, Ohio, in 1981, before taking residence at Jimmy’s venue the Osmond Family Theater until 2002. Donny and Marie continued to have success together as a duo, and Marie also had some hits on her own, such as "Meet Me in Montana" with Dan Seals. But behind the scenes, Marie was still struggling.

Secret Struggles

Marie Osmond seemed like the quintessential American sweetheart. With her glossy hair and even glossier smile, she looked like the poster girl for wholesome happiness. But the real truth was that Marie had had her own ups and downs in secret—she had had three marriages, and two were to the same man! And on top of the romantic upheaval, Marie had suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of her children. In 2001, she published a book on the experience and how to help others, entitled *Marie Osmond: Behind the Smile*.

Low Point

But this sadly wasn’t the end of Marie’s struggles with depression, and in 2006, she was admitted to hospital after an accident with pills. Though her family and publicist both strenuously denied the rumors, saying that it had been an adverse reaction to some medication, it was clear that—whatever the truth—things were still tough for Marie in her private life. And sadly, yet more tragedy was on its way for this beloved 70s superstar.

Terrible Loss

By this point, you would think that Marie Osmond had surely suffered enough. After the ups and downs of fame, not to mention the struggles she had been through in her personal life, she certainly deserved some happiness. But unfortunately, tragedy struck for Marie once again, when her son Michael died in 2010. Marie found comfort in her faith, telling Oprah, “Because of what I believe in, I believe I'll see him again.” But there would be something else that would also provide great solace for this singing star…

The Show Must Go On

In 2008, Donny and Marie launched their new double act performance, the Las Vegas residency The Donny and Marie Show. Originally only scheduled for six months, the show was so wildly popular that it was extended… for 11 years! It was this show that helped Marie find her solace in life after the tragic loss of her son. "I knew that if I didn't get back on stage, that I may never get back on stage,” she shared in an emotional interview with Oprah.

Continued Success

As the years went on, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay started performing again under the original group name. They had several country music hits, such as "I Think About Your Lovin'" and "It's Like Fallin' in Love (Over and Over)". Even today, the brothers perform together across the country—and now and again, they share it with the next generation, too… With all of the Osmond children married and with families of their own, it makes sense that many of their children would want to follow them into showbiz.

Osmonds Again

Talk about déjà vu! As we know, all of the Osmonds have married and had children of their own, and it’s no surprise that the newest generation of Osmond offspring also have the entertainment bug and that famous work ethic. Alan Osmond has eight sons (yes! Eight!) and they perform together as The Osmonds—Second Generation. One of them, David Osmond, has also carved out a successful solo career! And don’t forget that he is also the lead of the Osmond Chapman Orchestra and a regular fixture at other Osmonds performances.

Mega Milestone

In 2007 and 2008, the Osmonds celebrated something that few celebrities ever do—even the most successful of them all. They starry set of siblings had now reached the fiftieth anniversary of their career in showbiz! Can you imagine! Fifty years of stardom and still going strong. To celebrate, they went on a European tour and gave a special televised concert in Las Vegas. Even Andy Williams, who had given them their first start all those years ago, made an appearance.

Global Darlings

Even today, the Osmonds remain one of the biggest and most popular acts across the world. They are particularly popular in the UK, with Donny and Marie having appeared in a super popular television special for British channel ITV1, entitled An Audience with Donny and Marie. The UK is also one of the favorite destinations for Merrill, Jay, and Jimmy, who often tour there when they are not performing at their residency at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Health Scare

Though the Osmonds are clearly going strong even after so many years in showbiz, in 2018 one of the brothers experienced a pretty scary health moment. In December of that year, Jimmy Osmond suffered a severe stroke, with his brother Merrill sharing that he may never perform again. “I think live performances are off the cards. They’re off the cards, brother,” he said to the Press Association. “Jimmy definitely needed space, and he still does… he’s asked us to not to get into details. But it’s a big enough disaster that he just needs to have his life and live it the way he wants.”

Chart History

The Osmonds are known as one of the most enduring acts of the 70s, with their names and faces remaining familiar even to this day. But an interesting factoid is, despite their mega success, they are one of the few pop bands to have very little airtime of their original songs on the radio today. Even classic radio stations do not play them, despite how popular they were originally. We are not sure why they have slipped out of airplay, because they clearly were a hit the first time around!

Drifting Apart

From the moment they burst onto the scene, fresh faced and ready for action in the 70s, the Osmonds have always seemed like an incredibly close and loving family. But Jimmy Osmond later revealed that in some ways, they are just like any other family. “We’re a normal family,” he said to the Mirror. “We’ve had ups and downs. We see them whenever we can, but we’ve kind of all drifted apart a bit in some ways, because we all have families and everyone’s busy.”

Unbreakable Bond

Nonetheless, just because the Osmonds don’t see each other or live in each other’s pockets quite as much as they used to, that doesn’t mean that they love each other any less. “We used to be in each other’s lives so much and I love them all so much,” Jimmy revealed, adding that the family was more spread out these days. “Now everybody’s got their own little pod and their own families and we don’t get together any more like we used to on TV.”

Keeping Faith

One thing that has characterized the Osmonds throughout their long careers, is their hard work ethic and smiling faces. And that’s not just a character trait that the siblings tried to hone for the sake of image. It’s actually incredibly true to their personalities—and they put it down to inspiration from their Mormon faith. “It gives me stability in a world and in a business that can be uncertain, compromising and stressful,” Donny wrote on his website about the strength he finds in faith. “It's the pattern that gives me direction in life.”

Looking to the Future

Though the Osmonds seem to be some of the most happy, well balanced and grateful stars of all time, retaining a degree of sanity in a crazy world, you can’t help but wonder—do they regret entering themselves into the wild environment of showbiz. Buffalo News once asked Donny Osmond if he would want his own children to follow him into showbiz. "I wouldn't discourage them,” he answered. “But I wouldn't encourage them, either. Even if it works out, you pay a high price." The Osmonds’ story of hard work, resilience, love, and faith, is an inspiration to us all.

Marie's Children

And what about Marie's children? Marie was married three times, twice to the same man. With Stephen Lyle Craig, she welcomed son Stephen James Craig in 1983 and with Brian Blosil, she had Rachael and Matthew. The couple also adopted five children together, Jessica, Michael, Brandon, Brianna, and Abigail. In a recent episode of The Talk, Marie confessed that she does not plan to leave any money for her children. "Congratulations, kids," she said. "My husband and I decided that you do a great disservice to your children to just hand them a fortune because you take away the one most important gift you can give your children, and that's the ability to work."