Marie Osmond says she was called 'fat' at 15 while weighing 103 pounds
Marie Osmond says she was called "fat" as a young person in Hollywood, years before she would become a Nutrisystem spokesperson and lose 50 pounds.
"Growing up in entertainment, there was always body issues and dieting yo-yos and this and that," she told Fox News Digital. "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."
It was during that time that she and her brother Donny Osmond found success with their own variety show, after Marie had already gained recognition for her music. She felt a lot of pressure to look a certain way on camera and recalled doing unhealthy things to "starve" herself before the show's tapings. However, she didn't make any serious efforts to lose weight until she was a parent.
"Women in my family don't live long because of heart disease and weight," Osmond said, noting that she feared she'd become like her mom, who died of a stroke, once she reached her 40s. Apparently her children shared the same fear.
"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,'" she recalled. "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?'"
When she went on to appear as a contestant on Dancing With the Stars in 2007 — which she jokingly called "Dancing with the Starved" — her insecurities jumped out. "Fifty pounds overweight and spandex was not beautiful," she said. "And so, I went on Nutrisystem. It literally was my last-ditch effort. And I learned for the first time in my life that food was not the enemy. ...Food is not my enemy anymore."
While she's since celebrated a drastic weight loss, Osmond said that she's continued working to maintain it in an effort to preserve her youthful energy. "At this stage of my life, I can tell you that weight ages you," she said. "It also takes away the joy out of being active with your children and grandchildren. It takes away your health, even mentally."
Now, her priority is to stay healthy to experience more life with her family and grandchildren.
"I'm 63 and I'm living my most fabulous life right now. I know who I am. I've been through the crazy stuff, the heartache, the parts where you're on the floor going, 'I don't know how to take my next breaths,'" she explained. "It's really nice to be at a place where — look, I don't have a 20-year-old body, but I certainly don’t have a 63-year-old body. And I believe the more you take care of you, the more your body takes care of you."
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