Donny Osmond was on a double date with his future wife at an Elton John concert when he had a moment of clarity.
The “Puppy Love” singer still vividly remembers the moment John sat down at the piano to perform “Your Song.” As John sang, Osmond looked over at Debbie Glenn and had an undeniable feeling: “I think I’m going to marry that girl someday,” he thought to himself, per an interview with Fox News Digital.
“And I did,” he said.
The only problem: Debbie was actually on a date with his brother, Jay.
“I stole her from my brother, that’s a true story,” Osmond said with a laugh during the interview. “And I told Elton the story, and I said, ‘You’re responsible for my marriage.’ He thought that was kind of funny.”
As Osmond recently announced he’s extending his Las Vegas residency through November, the singer has been reflecting on the continual support of his wife, Debbie.
The two celebrate their 47th anniversary this year.
Donny Osmond on the support of his wife, Debbie
Osmond and his wife, Debbie, have been married for 46 years. They exhibit a kind of stability that is somewhat of a rarity in the entertainment industry.
The singer performs five nights a week at Harrah’s on the Las Vegas strip, and his wife frequently attends his shows.
In fact, she often acts as his eyes and ears, telling him about some of the fans and their reactions to his show since he can’t see it all from the stage, as the Deseret News previously reported.
“I don’t really get to see that because it’s so dark when the spotlight hits me, but it’s kind of interesting, from her perspective, to see the different demographics much more than I can see,” he said.
It was also Debbie Osmond who encouraged her husband to return to “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” — as the Pharaoh — for a three-week run last December. The singer was initially hesitant to take the gig because it fell during a block of time he and Debbie had planned to spend together, away from the stage.
“Debbie looks at me, and very quietly she said, ‘You can’t turn that down,‘” Osmond told the Deseret News.
That kind of love and support has helped him navigate an unpredictable roller coaster of a career in an industry that can eat you alive. He had it in his earliest days, too, when he was singing alongside his older brothers on “The Andy Williams Show.”
“What’s really helped me is the teachings from my parents and my faith — that has kept my feet on the ground,” he previously told the Deseret News. “It helps to have parents that were madly in love with each other, and my dad treated my mom with utmost respect. So that’s a great example, a teaching tool for a child.”
‘The first thing I think about is her’
But examples can only take you so far, Osmond said.
“It takes both people to make it work. You have to work at it, and you have examples to follow, but it really ultimately is up to you and your spouse to make it work,” he told the Deseret News.
The singer recently reshared an excerpt from an interview on “The Drew Barrymore Show“ three years ago that touches on the love and support of his wife.
In the clip, he reflected on the loneliness he felt while doing a show in Hawaii — even as he was surrounded by thousands of screaming fans.
After the show, Osmond said he returned to his condo, rolled up into a ball and started crying “uncontrollably.”
“I was in such a desperate place, then Debbie pulled me out of it,” he said on “The Drew Barrymore Show.“ ”And whenever I make a decision in my life, the first thing I think about is her. How does it affect her? And then the second, how does it affect my children? And the third, now, is how does it affect my grandchildren?”
How did Donny and Debbie Osmond meet?
Although they started dating as teenagers, Donny and Debbie Osmond first met when he was 5 and she was 3.
That first meeting came when Osmond was with his brothers and Andy Williams during a layover at the airport in Billings, Montana — Debbie Osmond’s hometown.
“Her family happened to be at the airport waiting for her uncle. And they said, ‘Oh, those are those little Osmond boys on ’The Andy Williams Show,‘” Osmond told Fox News Digital. “And they got our autograph.”
“We’ve literally known each other all our lives,” he told the Deseret News. “She and I have clicked so well.”