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Marie Osmondis reflecting on the harsh moment she was body shamed as a teenager.
In a recent interview withPageSix, the actress and singer, 63, opened up about the scrutiny she faced from a producer while filming her talk showDonny & Marie, which ran from 1976 to 1979.
She also claimed that a producer told her that “250 people were going to lose their jobs because you can’t keep food out of your fat face.”
“I was in the dressing room, bending over putting on my pantyhose, and there was a girl in there changing who was just an emaciated skeleton with skin on her,” she continued. “And I just thought, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so sick,’ and I stood up and realized that girl was me. And it was just one of those big ‘AHA’ [moments], that ‘Oh, body dysmorphia is a real thing.'”
Noting the struggles that come with being a child star, Osmond admitted to the outlet that she often prioritized her career and other people rather than her own needs. But she credited her parents for helping her regain her confidence following those “tough years.”
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Osmond previously discussed her difficulty managing her weight in 2019 during an interview withFox News.
“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.'”
Osmond went on to detail some of her family’s medical history. “Women in my family don’t live much past 60,” she said at the time. “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.”
As the only daughter in her family of nine, Osmond’s mother left an emotional message before her death.
“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. “Shortly after that, I was going through a divorce and I have eight children.”
One of Osmond’s sons also gave her a heartfelt awakening.
“I remember my son took me aside on behalf of the kids and told me, ‘Mom, you’re all we have. We can’t lose you. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but you’ve got to lose weight,’ she said. “That was the killer punch in the gut.”
source: people.com
