"By the time I was 19, I knew I was in love [with Debbie] and had to do something right for me," Donny Osmond shared.
Donny Osmond is paying tribute to his "rock" on their 45th wedding anniversary. Sharing a throwback photo of himself with his wife Debbie on Instagram, he wrote, "I asked this sweet little girl named Debbie Glenn to marry me 45 years ago today. It was the best decision of my life." The singer and his wife tied the knot in 1978 despite his father's opposition. Over the years, the pair raised five sons and welcomed 12 grandchildren. Osmond, 65, and Debbie, 64, first met in 1970, when he was then a 16-year-old teen superstar and she a 15-year-old cheerleader, according to PEOPLE.
Despite fame at such an early age, Donny admitted that he often felt lonely. After one show in Hawaii, he had an emotional breakdown. "My brother Jay walked in and said, 'Donny, what's wrong?' I said, 'I'm lonely,'" he recalled. "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.'" Then he found true love in Debbie because "there was something simple about her, and I lived a very complicated life," he said.
Donny revealed that when he confronted his dad about his intention to marry Debbie but his father strongly opposed it. "While the world knew me as a teen idol, and the Osmonds' fame was at its height, I began secretly dating Debbie Glenn. By the time I was 19, I knew I was in love and had to do something right for me," he told The Guardian. "When I told my dad, he said, 'Well, there goes your career, but this is ushering in your personal life.' My dad was right about my career after I got married. But Debbie is an amazing person to be with. If I hadn’t married her, I’d have been a mess. Now I had someone who understood me and with whom I could build a future together," he added.
While his career did plummet with time he learned to build himself up again and get back on his feet. He credits his wife for being his rock during his difficult years as he battled anxiety. "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," he revealed of his struggles with anxiety. "I would walk on stage knowing I was going to die. It was horrible." But one day his wife 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," he recalled.
"Debbie has given my life stability," the I'll Make a Man Out of You hitmaker shared. "She keeps my feet on the ground." His family became the biggest priority in the entertainer's life. "That's what balances my life out," he confessed. "Family is the most important thing, because the curtain will come down eventually, and then what do you have?"
References:
https://people.com/music/donny-osmond-wife-helped-him-recover-after-horrible-anxiety-battle/
https://www.instagram.com/donnyosmond/
Cover Image Source: (L) Photo by Amanda Edwards (R) Photo by Ethan Miller
