Michael Jackson didn’t hold back when it came to offering advice to fellow star Donny Osmond.
Both artists shot to fame at an early age through their family bands, but Osmond faced a tough time transitioning from a child star to a mature solo performer. Realizing he needed help, he reached out to Jackson, who passed away in 2009 at just 50 years old.
In a recent social media clip, Osmond reflected on that conversation during his 2023 visit to The Adam Carolla Show after posting it on his Instagram. Many years back, he recounted how the name Donny Osmond was pretty much a punchline.
“If you said you were a fan of my music, you’d be shunned,” he joked. He recalled how the New York station WPLJ had once played his 1988 single “Soldier of Love” even before its U.S. release, though they weren’t keen on saying his name.
During the conversation that really stuck with him, Osmond asked Jackson for pointers on how to revive his career post-Thriller. The King of Pop laid it down, telling him outright, “Donny, your name’s poison. You need to switch it up!” Osmond laughed as he remembered this.
“That was pretty harsh to hear,” he admitted, but he acknowledged that Jackson had a point. By 1989, his music began getting airtime without the mention of his name, and oddly enough, that worked in his favor.
“In a way, they did me a solid by keeping it a mystery. The song became a hit anyways—only later did people find out it was me!” he concluded.
Donny has opened up in previous interviews about his bond with Michael Jackson, especially in last year’s documentary Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands from MTV Entertainment Studios.
Reflecting on their friendship, Osmond acknowledged, “I spent a ton of time with Michael. It’s wild, the journey our families have taken. Both households had nine kids, he and I are the seventh in line, and our mothers even share a birthday!”
He also reminisced about their get-togethers. “We’d laugh and talk about our childhoods, and he once told me, ‘You’re the only one who really understands what I went through.'”
Get the full scoop in the original article at Entertainment Weekly.
