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

On Valentine’s Day in 2020, Donny wrote a beautiful tribute to Debbie, calling her “the absolute love of my life.”

“I want to publicly express my gratitude for the irreplaceable influence Debbie continues to be in my life. She’s not only the love of my life, but she’s also my best friend and greatest confidant. Between raising our five sons, running the show at home, enjoying time with our grandchildren, and running a business as well, I really don’t know how she manages to do it all,” Donny Osmond wrote on Facebook.

“Through the years, Debbie has often had to manage on her own while I’ve toured and performed on the road. That’s a very heavy burden to bear, and I’m deeply grateful for a wife who is my teammate in every sense of the word. She is the glue that holds us all together,” he added.

When Donny Osmond embarked on his solo career in the early 1980s, after Donny and Marie had been canceled, the singer experienced many mental health problems.

He felt that he had to be “even greater to be perfect,” always putting on a perfect performance every night. While in Minneapolis, things got to a point of no return, and Donny Osmond suffered a panic attack.

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He recalled laying in bed, shaking, and he knew something was wrong. His wife took him to the hospital, and Donny almost broke down in tears when speaking about the scary event.

“I collapsed. [I was afraid of] failing, of making a mistake,” he said.

Donny Osmond says Debbie helped him overcome anxiety

Sadly, his mental health problems and struggles with anxiety had begun even earlier, in his teenage years. The young boy was chased by girls wherever he went, and the publicity was getting too much to handle

In an interview with People Magazine, Donny recalled how he went to his family house after a show in Hawaii and just curled up into a ball.

“My brother Jay walked in and said, ‘Donny, what’s wrong?’ I said, ‘I’m lonely,'” Doonny Osmond said. “He said, ‘You just had thousands of girls screaming your name. Why are you lonely?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. I just need someone.'”

Not long after, Donny fell in love with Debbie. But he knew that it would change everything – and that his career would be “over” when the relationship became public. Of course, that didn’t happen. As mentioned, sadly, his anxiety problems followed him for many years.

When he played Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Donny never thought he’d be able to do it.

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But in the end, Debbie came to his rescue.

“It’s like you’re standing in the middle of an intersection, and here comes a massive semi right at you at 90 miles an hour, and you can’t do anything about it,” Osmond said about his anxiety in an interview with People Magazine. “I would walk on stage knowing I was going to die. It was horrible.”

Debbie helped Donny Osmond through “the dark years” of his career

“Debbie said, ‘Why don’t you go out there tonight and do an average show?’ It ended up being the best show I ever did because I gave myself an opportunity to make a mistake.”

In the end, Donny stayed on the show for over six years – doing around 2000 performances in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

“It started the foundation of me being a multifaceted entertainer,” Osmond concluded.

When appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show, Osmond further opened up about how his wife helped him through “the dark years” of his career.

“I was in such a desperate place that Debbie pulled me out of it,” Donny Osmon explained. “Whenever I make a decision in my life, the first thing I think about is her. How does it affect her? And the second thing I think about is how does it affect my children? The third, now, is how does it affect my grandchildren. And then I’m fourth. If all four of those are a green light, then I’ll do it. I think that is what’s really helped this 43-year marriage is that she comes first. But I love what I do.”

Donny Osmond and his wife, Debbie, are such a wonderful couple. We wish them all the best in the future! 

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