A September house fire in 2005 left Marie
Osmond watching as the portion of her home that housed her office — and years
worth of journals — went up in smoke.
A few years later, at the urging of her friend and one-time co-author, Marcia
Wilkie, Osmond decided to write down some of her favorite memories and important
life lessons for her children to read later.
Wilkie sent the transcripts to Osmond's agent, and the result is "Might as
Well Laugh About It Now" (New American Library, 301 pages, $25), a new book
composed of funny, interesting and moving stories, anecdotes and
experiences.
The book is easy to read and is written in a conversational tone that makes
the reader feel as though Osmond is a friend retelling stories from her life
instead of a distant celebrity.
Taken from various points in her life, Osmond said that, while it was
difficult to narrow down the experiences to include, she wanted to arrange the
book like a collection of readable short stories.
"We're all really busy women," she said. "And, to me, a book has to be
user-friendly. Whether you are taking the kids to the soccer game or getting the
color in your hair or waiting before a meeting or sitting on an airplane, it's
just something you could pick up and read."
The book's title came from one of Osmond's life philosophies: "You're going
to laugh about it someday ... might as well laugh about it now." She said positive
thinking and a sense of humor have always helped her.
"As long as you're learning and living and laughing, it's OK," Osmond said.
"It's about attitude. You have to be positive or life will get you down."
As for the book's specific contents, Osmond said she chose more current
stories, like one about "Dancing With the Stars" to more "tender" ones, like the
experience she had filming with actress Shelley Winters.
"The Shelley Winters story was really poignant, and it hit me at a point in
my life when I was moving into my career." Osmond said. "I just thought that it
was really life changing that she would have given it all back. She had
everything that Hollywood could have given anybody, and she would have given
everything back to have her daughter in her life."
That story taught Osmond about the importance
of family, which is also a recurring theme throughout the book. Nearly all of
the stories relate in some way to her parents, brothers and children.
"You look at the world today where families are torn apart ... and family is
the one constant in everyone's life. Heartbreaking stories about girls from
broken homes that became attached to my parents; these girls came in from
Denmark and said: You saved us, your music saved us through the harder times,
the closeness of your family, we want a close family."
She said that family is, in some ways, like a community, and that everyone is
searching for community. She hopes to create and foster those connections in any
way she can.
"People want to follow something," Osmond said. "We belong to this great
need, this place of wanting to belong to something and I do believe people feel
that way. I think that's why we like to do things like quilting or collecting
dolls or listening to music. They want to belong to something that feels like
community."
Much of what she has done, such as designing, she has done in an effort to
unite people and build community.
"With my sewing, crafting and quilting, we've gotten younger girls because
it's so much fun, no pun intended," Osmond said. "Not s-e-w 'sew much fun'... but
I love things that unite women and bring women of different generations
together."
The Osmond family on the whole has built a strong community of fans. She said
one of the stories in the book, discussing her mother's long friendship with
Elvis, explains why the Osmonds always strive to stay close to their fans. Even
Osmond's current show with her brother Donny at the Flamingo in Las Vegas, has a
fan-centered element.
"We do a meet-and-greet after the shows and we
don't have to do them, and they can take 45 minutes after the show, but we want
to because people come from all over the world."
She explained how those meet-and-greets usually go, bringing in a diverse mix
of fans.
"These women say to Donny, 'We've wanted to meet you for years' and their
husbands are like: 'Go ahead and hug her, she's loved you longer than she's
loved me.' We get doll people, people who loved 'Dancing with the Stars' and
we're enjoying it."
Donny and Marie have so enjoyed their run in Las Vegas that they've extended,
and she said that her family has also loved the change.
"There's a wonderful community here and the kids are so happy, as a single
mom it's great for your kids to have friends, sports and school. Something solid
and consistent. And, as a mom it's a great gig."
E-mail: emorgan@desnews.com