Marie Osmond could "never" go back to being overweight.
Marie Osmond discusses maintaining her weight loss
The 63-year-old singer - who shot to fame as part of a pop duo with her brother Donny Osmond in the 1970s - lost 50lbs over a decade ago and has now explained that her weight loss has enabled her to live a "fuller life" with her children and grandchildren.
She said: "At this stage of my life, I can tell you that weight ages you . It also takes away the joy out of being active with your children and grandchildren. It takes away your health, even mentally. It’s not healthy for you. And when you hear the world saying, ‘Love me however I am,’ I think you love yourself to be the best version of you… so that you can live your fullest, most beautiful life. That’s why I have continued this.’ I would never go back to who I was," she shared. "Never. I could never have done everything I’ve done. My last album, my current album, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard. I’m 63. That’s stupid, right?... Never could I have done that without the energy I have. And I just got off tour, the best, fun tour I’ve done. I just spent Disney World with my eight grandchildren. My 23-year-old son goes, ‘Mom, let’s shut down the park.’ Never could I have done that with 50 pounds on me!"
The 'Paper Roses' hitmaker - who has Stephen, 39, Rachael, 31, Jessica, 35, Brandon, 26, Brianna, 24, Matthew, 23, and Abigail, 18, - went on to add that despite giving up hope on her body when she reached her 40s after suffering with body image issues during her teenage years, she was inspired to do something about her health when her son bluntly reminded her that if she carried on gaining weight, she would die young.
She told Fox Digital: "Growing up in entertainment, there was always body issues and dieting yo-yos and this and that. I was just at KTLA here… in Los Angeles where we did the original ‘Donny Marie’ show. I was like 15, and I was talking about how I was taken out to a parking lot, and at 5' 5" — I was like 103 pounds — I was told I was fat. [It] was an embarrassment… That was the era of Twiggy in the ‘70s and you know, lollipop heads and the whole thing When I got into my 40s, I think I just kind of said, ‘I’m gonna be my mom'. You just kind of think, ‘That teenage body’s gone. That 20-year-old isn’t there anymore.’ And it’s just not true. Long story short, my son, the oldest, came on behalf of all the kids. I was getting divorced and he goes, ‘Mom, we’re gonna lose you. You’re gonna die. You need to lose weight.’ That’s a really tough one. And women in my family don’t live long because of heart disease and weight. And so, it was kind of a wake-up — a big, scary wake-up call. They said, ‘Mom, you’re all we have.’ So that was kind of my a-ha [moment]. And then it was like, ‘How am I going to do this?’"
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