Marie Osmond 'starved' herself during teen years

27 December 2019

Marie Osmond "starved" herself during her teen years.

Marie Osmond

The 60-year-old singer began her showbiz career as a child star as part of the famous Osmond family, and starred alongside her singer brother Donny Osmond in the variety show 'Donny & Marie', which aired from 1976 to 1979.

And now, Marie has said she struggled with her body image whilst hosting the show - which began when she was just 15 - and would starve herself for "three days" before filming.

She confessed: "From the time I started 'Donny & Marie', age 15, I did starvation. I would literally starve myself for three days before taping, drinking lemon water and cayenne pepper with maple syrup so I can be skinny."

Marie claims she was told by studio bosses that the show would be cancelled if she didn't lose weight, and alleges they called her "an embarrassment" to her family.

She added: "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. They said I was an embarrassment to my family and I needed to keep the food out of my fat face ... I was 103 pounds - I'd kill to be 103 pounds. So I got down to 93 pounds.

"I never realised the mental abuse behind that. I went through other kinds, too. But those leave scars and traumas. I swear to you, every diet on the planet I tried."

Years later, the 'Talk' star decided to lose weight for medical reasons before competing on 'Dancing with the Stars', but was able to do so in a healthy way, rather than restricting her diet too much.

Speaking to Fox News, she said: "I was doing 'Dancing with the Stars' and I thought 50 extra pounds in spandex is not a beautiful combination. I was ready. It took me about four months to lose 50 pounds. People assume I lost it on 'Dancing with the Stars' but that's not true. I started my journey before I did that show. And while I was doing Dancing with the Stars, Nutrisystem found me ... And it was fantastic ... It helped me get back to my healthier, happier self."