Donny Osmond opens up about his anxiety: How his wife helped him overcome “the dark years” of his career

He continued, “You’re an island no matter what you do. I think it’s very dangerous to use popularity as your identity in life. So you have to really know who you are inside, the core person, and follow what is true rather than follow what is hype.”

“And that’s so hard when you’re involved in all of this excitement, this screaming, and everything like that. They’re screaming for an image, you know. And then you go home, and you put your pants on just like anybody else. You eat your breakfast just like anybody else. You’re just like anybody else.”

Donny Osmond and wife Debbie’s love story
Donny Osmond grew up a heartthrob, and when he became a teenager, it’s probably not an exaggeration that thousands of people had fallen in love with him. But for Donny, there was pretty much only one girl he loved, his wife Debbie, whom he’s now been married to for over 40 years!

So how did the two meet? Well, in fact, Debbie and Donny met while they were both teenagers. Donny was 17 at the time, and Debbie was 16. However, while Donny called her his first true love, she didn’t want to date him at first. The reason was simple: She dated his brother.

“She was the hot babe cheerleader in town, and she dated my brother Jay [Osmond] before she dated me,” Donny Osmond said about their relationship in a Facebook post from 2016. “It took me 3 whole years to win her heart and convince her to marry me.”

Donny and Debbie finally began dating. He planned something special for her 17th birthday in 1976, including a ride in a limousine and a romantic dinner. The singer indeed wanted to impress his date.

“Debbie was playing hard to get, and I wanted to plan something really, really special for our first kiss,” Donny told the Utah Valley Magazine.

When they had enjoyed their romantic dinner, Donny had planned a scavenger hunt for Debbie. Eventually, they ended up at Utah Lake – where they shared their first kiss.

“She came back to the limo and read that she could get her final clue from Donny if she gave him a kiss. And it was fireworks, let me tell you!” Donny Osmond recalled.

Donny Osmond’s father didn’t accept his son’s marriage
When Donny was 20 and Debbie 19, only three years after meeting each other for the first time, the couple tied the knot at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 8, 1978