Marie Osmond Reveals She Was Body-Shamed as a Teen and How It Affected Her | “Eating Was My Way of Coping With Life”

Marie Osmond has fought several personal problems during her career and has lately opened up about her battle, According to PEOPLE, the actress recently talked openly about her struggles with weight and the harsh things someone said to her about her appearance when she was only a teenager. As per the outlet, the singer, who became a co-host on The Talk in May and finished her 11-year Las Vegas residency alongside her brother Donny Osmond last month, explained why she had trouble controlling her weight.

“From the time I started Donny & Marie, at 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,” she told the interviewing outlet. “I was 103 pounds — I’d kill to be 103 pounds. So I got down to 93 pounds. I never realized 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,” she said as she recalled the testing young days.

“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,” she revealed as she recalled the amount of body shaming she faced from bullies as a teen that tarnished her self-image. Things weren’t in favor for Osmond as many conditions catered to her physical condition, “I was taking care of my mother and I had put the weight on,” she recalled.

“You eat when you’re tired. You eat inconsistently. And then you try to diet. But you’re also trying to raise a family. I was the provider for my family, so I had to work,” she continued. “Eating was my way of coping with life. And you justify it, like ‘My bones are getting bigger’ or ‘I’m just going to be my mother,'” she added. Osmond recognized it was time to take action regarding her health after hearing encouraging comments from her son and her deceased mother. The talk show presenter successfully shed some pounds by pushing herself to get into shape.

Osmond's mother, the lone girl in a family of nine, also left a heartfelt statement before passing away that inspired her to take hold of her health. “I have eight brothers. The last thing she said to me was ‘Do not do to your body what I did to mine',” she recalled. Osmond further said, “Women in my family don’t live much past 60. They put weight around their stomach. They also suffer from strokes and heart attacks. That’s what took my mother’s life. And I’m the only daughter,” shared the actor who also appeared on Dancing with the Stars.

Reference:

https://people.com/health/marie-osmond-remembers-being-body-shamed/

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Jemal Countess