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CNN Larry King Live
Interview With Donny, Marie Osmond
Aired May 16, 2006 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONNY OSMOND: Good evening. Welcome to our show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Tonight, Donny and Marie Osmond in their first interview together in five years. They'll tell us about making TV history 30 years ago with the "Donny and Marie Show" and the show business legends they worked with.
And they'll tell all on Marie overcoming postpartum depression, Donny conquering paralyzing panic attacks, their dad getting out of the hospital just yesterday. Marie's husband battles a brain tumor and more; Donny and Marie together again with your calls next on LARRY KING LIVE.
D. OSMOND: We called that exciting anyway.
KING: Keep it up. Good evening and welcome to another edition of LARRY KING LIVE with two old friends and two true legends, Donny and Marie Osmond, their first time together on TV in five years. It's been 30 years since they first appeared on ABC with that hit show that carried their names, the first network variety show ever hosted by...
D. OSMOND: I'm sorry, we're having a conversation.
KING: Hosted by a brother and sister and they've got a big DVD that's coming out in August. We're going to tell you all about that later.
But first, why so long since you've been on together?
D. OSMOND: First of all, good to see you again.
KING: Why so long since you've been on together? Why?
MARIE OSMOND: Well, it took 30 years to get therapy so we could actually work together again.
D. OSMOND: You know I think timing is everything, Larry really. I don't think the "Donny and Marie Shows" in a release like this and a DVD release would have worked a few years ago. But right now there seems to be such demand.
KING: No, but why haven't you been... D. OSMOND: Oh, personally?
KING: Yes, guested together?
M. OSMOND: We've done a few things together periodically.
D. OSMOND: Let's be honest OK? We haven't really gotten along very well.
KING: You can tell me. How bad is it?
D. OSMOND: No, but there have been times.
M. OSMOND: Should I tell you how bad it is, Larry?
KING: (INAUDIBLE) Marie.
M. OSMOND: Can I lay it on the table and just kind of take a moment to myself?
KING: You don't like him? The past few years have been difficult though haven't they for both of you?
D. OSMOND: For both of us. We've gone through some difficult times. Everybody does. Everybody goes through ups and downs, especially in show business.
KING: Why especially in show business?
D. OSMOND: Because it's a business of extreme. I mean you've been around a lot of entertainers through your years and you've seen ups and downs of careers and the interesting thing or dynamic in show business that when you close a show or when you're done with a show you're out of work, you know. You got to go find the next gig. You're only as good as your last gig.
KING: But it seems, Marie, like trouble always seems to hit you. I mean you're an amazing performer. No, I'm not...
M. OSMOND: This is a depressing show.
KING: I don't mean this funny. We're going to get light too. A lot of trouble has hit you.
M. OSMOND: You know what, yes it's true but I think that's the way it is for everybody. I mean I think it's funny because everything I've ever watched or (INAUDIBLE) I swear it's happened to me, whether it's you know a divorce, sickness, whatever it is, you know. I mean you just, you go through lots of things. But the constant is you keep a good attitude, you know.
KING: Do you ever feel cursed or unlucky or why do bad things happen to me?
M. OSMOND: No. I have great things that have happened are you kidding? I have eight beautiful children, you know. I have a husband who adores me. I mean I'm very fortunate with that.
KING: By the way how is he?
D. OSMOND: But -- but...
M. OSMOND: He's doing OK.
KING: He has brain -- what does he have?
M. OSMOND: Well, a lot of people ask if he has cancer and I tell them no he's Sagittarius so.
D. OSMOND: But let's face it, Larry...
KING: Hold it.
D. OSMOND: OK, yes.
KING: What does he have?
D. OSMOND: I'll just step over here.
KING: Do you know what he has?
M. OSMOND: (INAUDIBLE), no.
KING: What does he have?
M. OSMOND: Well, we haven't really talked a lot about it but he is -- I don't know what the exact word is. It's like agromili (ph) something. It's giant's disease. He's a giant and it's a tumor in the brain that they've done several surgeries for.
KING: So his head has grown?
M. OSMOND: No, his head has grown.
KING: No, his head has grown? Everything ain't funny Marie.
M. OSMOND: Yes, yes. You know that's what happens. He's different from when I first married him and that's how we actually found it was he was having seizures and passing out and all kinds of things.
KING: Is this fatal?
M. OSMOND: We don't think so at this point. You know, you wait and see and right now we hope that -- I told him if he leaves me with eight children I'll go to the other side and personally choke him.
KING: And how about -- I know how close you were to your mom.
D. OSMOND: Yes.
KING: She passed away.
D. OSMOND: Yes, two years ago on Mother's Day and...
KING: On Mother's Day?
D. OSMOND: On Mother's Day of all days. And then unfortunately just a couple weeks ago I lost my mother-in-law, so it's been kind of an interesting...
KING: Do you feel things have gone bad? I mean do you ever feel...
D. OSMOND: Well that's what I was about to say before I was rudely interrupted.
M. OSMOND: No, I think he asked me a question.
D. OSMOND: Yes, OK. I think if you look at it at face value Marie has had some hard times in her life and I think that's why she laughs all the time because it's her way of...
KING: Coping.
D. OSMOND: ...coping with the problems.
M. OSMOND: It's so much better to find positive in life. It's a choice, you know. It is a choice.
D. OSMOND: Yes, but there have been some, you know, some unfortunate situations that have happened to you in your life because in the beginning, you know, you take Donny and Marie's image.
KING: I mean you had so much so soon.
D. OSMOND: Absolutely. Well, I'm going to challenge that one, OK, because by saying that it means that a lot of stuff was handed to us.
KING: Not handed to you but you were very talented and were -- got a great attention early right?
D. OSMOND: Well...
KING: You didn't knock around for 20 years before someone discovered you in a lounge.
D. OSMOND: That's quite true too. You think of all the years on Andy Williams, we worked all that and then we were...
M. OSMOND: Actually Donny's quite the lounge singer, Larry.
D. OSMOND: Yes. But we worked every single kind of show you can possibly imagine and, you know, little teeny places, little (INAUDIBLE). I remember one time in San Francisco at the Fairmont Hotel...
KING: That's not tiny. D. OSMOND: No it's not and we go out there headlining right and we run out there on stage and we started singing. We look out. There's two people in the audience. We were there for two weeks and there were more people on stage...
M. OSMOND: They were the cleaning crew. That was the hard part.
D. OSMOND: More people on stage for that whole run than in the audience so, yes, we put forth some dues.
KING: How's your dad doing?
M. OSMOND: He's OK. He fell a couple weeks ago, had to have hip replacement and some surgeries and, you know, it's kind of tough being the only girl. I was born on his birthday and, you know, to lose your mother and then almost get that close to your dad it's -- I don't know. You kind of feel orphan you know ish.
KING: You're the only daughter right?
M. OSMOND: I am.
KING: How many brothers?
M. OSMOND: Well, Donny is female but...
D. OSMOND: That's why I kissed you. You know by the way just so everybody knows...
M. OSMOND: Can I leave now?
D. OSMOND: I kissed -- there are only two people in this world and we bring it up every time we talk, Marlon Brando and myself are the only two people that have kissed you. I'm not proud of it to be honest with you but I had my shots afterwards (INAUDIBLE).
KING: (INAUDIBLE) on this show. You kissed me on your show.
D. OSMOND: That's right.
M. OSMOND: Yes, it was on our show.
KING: All right, how about your own little demons there, the panic attacks, how are you doing with that? You told me last time you were here and that was surprising that you would be panic stricken before you went on stage.
M. OSMOND: That's why he doesn't work with me, Larry. I panic.
D. OSMOND: Work with anybody you panic. There are so many people that have suffered and still do suffer with panic attacks in this country. Twenty million people I think suffer with anxiety like that.
KING: Do you know where it came from?
D. OSMOND: I don't. I really don't, maybe show business has done it.
KING: Did it go away?
D. OSMOND: Maybe the pressure. It's something that you deal with but, yes, it's gone away to the point where I can deal with going on stage. When I was doing "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" I would go on stage knowing that I would die. That was the feeling, you know.
KING: That you were going to die?
D. OSMOND: I was going to die but I will do the show but I will die. That's the feeling.
M. OSMOND: He just wasn't going to get that applause and so.
D. OSMOND: No.
KING: Have you ever been that way, scared to go on?
M. OSMOND: You know what, recently more, more so recently.
D. OSMOND: Oh, I hope you don't go through that, gees.
KING: Why?
M. OSMOND: No, just you know so much so fast, you know, just my life changed overnight. Last time I was -- you know we talked about postpartum and things like that. Then I was all ready to go back to work, had this great -- well you say "The King and I" and great shows.
KING: You were amazing.
M. OSMOND: Oh, you're very sweet. You're very sweet.
KING: You were amazing. Your are great theater performers.
M. OSMOND: Thank you.
D. OSMOND: Let me tell you something about when I first saw her in "King and I," I thought she was lip-synching because this voice came out of her.
M. OSMOND: You didn't see me in "King and I". You saw me in "Sound of Music."
D. OSMOND: When I first saw her in "Sound of Music," I thought she was lip-synching because she started singing and I thought, "Oh, Marie, the critics are going to rip you apart."
KING: So why didn't you go back on stage?
M. OSMOND: Well, I was all ready to, Larry, and had the contracts all ready. It was a great show and I just couldn't do it. Long story short, I passed on it and a month later my mom got sick. And then I had another great pass on a couple shows. After two and a half years I saw that, you know, she was getting close and so I was ready to do another show, couldn't sign it again and the night before she died, my husband passed out, so he's been sick. So, you know, and now my dad and taking care.
KING: And you don't think you're snake bit?
M. OSMOND: Can I tell you something?
D. OSMOND: You're painting the story of her.
M. OSMOND: God gave me a blessing because...
KING: Which was?
M. OSMOND: Which was to be there for the people I love.
KING: Seems like he gave you a bad deal.
M. OSMOND: No, everybody goes through stuff, Larry. God is not exempt. It's not the great things we learn from. Yes, you know, I could tell you how great it was to perform for, you know, thousands and thousands of people, go to the Philippines and, you know, hear at four in the morning there were 4,000 people at the airport waiting for us and all the wonderful things we've done. It's the hard things that determine your character. It's finding that positive-ness when you feel like it's just the darkest that it possibly can be.
KING: Let me get a break. All the old Donny and Marie shows you're going to get a chance to see them. We'll have them talk about it later. Donny and Marie our special guests tonight. We'll also be taking your hone calls. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY WILLIAMS: What is your name?
D. OSMOND: Donny.
WILLIAMS: Donny?
D. OSMOND: Yes, sir.
WILLIAMS: Well how old are you?
D. OSMOND: Five.
WILLIAMS: Five and you sing along with your brothers huh?
D. OSMOND: Yes, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(VIDEO CLIP OF MARIE AND DONNY OSMOND) M. OSMOND: Wow.
D. OSMOND: Wow.
KING: Who did those outfits, Bob Mackey?
D. OSMOND: I don't know but they should be shot.
M. OSMOND: Yes and actually it was nice working with me because after Cher he had a lot of material left over.
D. OSMOND: You know it's interesting as we were watching the monitor and (INAUDIBLE).
KING: Yes, what goes through...
D. OSMOND: I was kind of observing what was happening with me and then watching Marie. We were smiling. We were really enjoying it. And I got to tell you, Larry, for the last year I've been putting these shows together for DVD and I've enjoyed every moment of it.
KING: That will break it down in what seven hours?
D. OSMOND: Broke it down to just under nine hours.
KING: From how many hours?
D. OSMOND: Seventy-two and so what I did is I -- I kept all the old audio masters, despite what everybody said. "Throw them away. You'll never need those. You got the video masters." But I never did and so I compiled as many as I could and I re-mixed this thing in surround sound. So, when you watch it, it feels like you're in the studio.
KING: When does it come out?
D. OSMOND: First part of August.
M. OSMOND: He really -- he really...
KING: Just called Donny and Marie?
D. OSMOND: Donny and Marie, Volume 1, and what we've done is on donny.com there's a place you can register to get one of the first ones.
KING: I want to come back to a lot more show business talk and calls from the audience. Is postpartum depression history?
M. OSMOND: I'm not planning on having another child.
D. OSMOND: Good one.
KING: Is depression -- you had a child after postpartum depression right? M. OSMOND: I have another daughter, yes. I had one more child. But to me now PPD means post puberty depression because my teenagers are just killing me. But, no the...
KING: Do you have any depression?
M. OSMOND: You know, not really. I don't think I do. I think that you live in the fear of it when you've been through something that devastating and I'm talking, you know, devastating. You kind of walk very carefully. You take really good care of yourself. You make sure that everything you do has meaning and purpose in your life.
I think the biggest discovery through it all was for years I kind of shoved me down saying "I don't have time for you. It's not, you know, can't, not now, go away. Don't."
D. OSMOND: But don't you think we all suffer from depression?
KING: Sure in various forms.
D. OSMOND: Yes.
KING: Twenty million people are diagnosed with it.
M. OSMOND: Absolutely.
D. OSMOND: Exactly.
M. OSMOND: And I don't care whether it's postpartum or whatever it feels the same. It's the same kind of a thing.
KING: That's right. You don't care what it's analyzed at if you're depressed, you're depressed.
M. OSMOND: Yes.
KING: How did you get over the anxiety? Did you have treatment?
D. OSMOND: I had treatments, a lot of...
KING: Psychiatric?
D. OSMOND: ...psychiatric help, medication as well.
KING: Do they know what caused it?
D. OSMOND: Not really, not really.
M. OSMOND: Me.
D. OSMOND: She did a lot of it.
M. OSMOND: Me.
D. OSMOND: But I think, if I could point to one thing it's perfectionism. It's the type A personality. KING: You are that.
D. OSMOND: I am that. It's the person. I mean I analyzed in putting these DVDs together I'd have to just say "Give up" you know, "let it go." As a matter of fact, I put back some skits and some of the terrible costumes and jokes and humor we used to do, I put it back in because I tried to perfect the shows too much. I thought, wait a minute, that's the charm of the show.
M. OSMOND: He is a perfectionist. If anything that's how I morphed into the comedian. I tried to lighten him up.
KING: What happened to your house?
M. OSMOND: It burned. It was a beautiful thing.
KING: You sent it as a Christmas card, a picture of the house?
D. OSMOND: Did you get it? Did she send...
KING: Yes, it's perverted. That's perverted.
D. OSMOND: It is. It is perverted.
M. OSMOND: I did. I put on there -- as a matter of fact, I'm doing a big Christmas tour this year. We're doing it, you know, ode to the house on fire, songs like Siren Night.
KING: Are you going out this year?
M. OSMOND: I am. Yes, I want to do something fun and, you know, the holidays are great. We're going to visit some children's hospitals along the way, do some fun music.
KING: How did the house burn? What happened?
M. OSMOND: My 9-year-old, he was -- he -- I was gone and took my two daughters with me. I was speaking. And, my husband was asleep. The boys were taking a nap. And I guess he went downstairs and -- he was so cute. He said, "Mommy" he said, "You know the broom it melts. It was really cool. And I went in to get some water but there was this cool cartoon show on."
D. OSMOND: That's funny.
M. OSMOND: And I mean literally it just boom, it just ignited and it blue the house up.
D. OSMOND: Scary that nobody was hurt.
M. OSMOND: But it's great because now there's no more mold and it's a great mountain view property now. It's up for sale.
KING: How close are you two?
D. OSMOND: We're about -- in proximity? KING: No.
D. OSMOND: Or emotionally?
KING: Yes, emotionally?
D. OSMOND: I got to tell you...
KING: No, I've had brothers and sisters sometimes...
D. OSMOND: No, he's a very analytical person. He asked me an analytical question.
M. OSMOND: Proximity or emotionally?
D. OSMOND: Well it's a good, it's a valid question. It's a return question. Excuse me one second, I got to teach her some things.
M. OSMOND: Such a guy.
D. OSMOND: Yes. I think we're a lot closer than we used to be.
KING: Oh.
D. OSMOND: Oh, yes. I'll tell you a story. I probably shouldn't. You're going to get very mad at me.
KING: Go ahead.
M. OSMOND: This should be really good.
D. OSMOND: Do you remember when we did the 2000...
M. OSMOND: This is live right?
D. OSMOND: Yes, we're live.
KING: Go ahead.
D. OSMOND: There's no pulling this back. It was 2002 when the Olympics were in Salt Lake.
M. OSMOND: Yes.
D. OSMOND: 2002 Olympics.
KING: Oh.
D. OSMOND: We had a falling out and we didn't let it show but there was a huge falling out just before we did that show where we almost didn't do the show together.
KING: At the Olympics?
D. OSMOND: At the Olympics. But, you know, it's OK. It's all right. We can be honest.
M. OSMOND: I really don't remember. What was it?
D. OSMOND: Oh, you let me have it.
M. OSMOND: Did I?
D. OSMOND: Don't you remember?
M. OSMOND: Oh, you must have deserved it though.
D. OSMOND: No, I didn't.
KING: What happened?
M. OSMOND: So what happened?
D. OSMOND: I selected a certain key for the song and I didn't consult her because, you know, we've worked together for so many years.
M. OSMOND: Oh, yes.
D. OSMOND: And you remember that?
M. OSMOND: Yes, I do.
D. OSMOND: And she let me have it and I thought this is no reason to be yelling at me but after it was all over and a very interesting observation at least I saw, we forgot about it and we became the professionals. We did the show and over time we've been able to come back closer and closer together. I think and I hope I'm not just making this up myself here, I think I'm a little bit closer to her now than I have been in the last five years.
M. OSMOND: Oh, I agree, oh totally. No, I think it was because he pitched it so high that I sounded like Mickey Mouse.
KING: She's forgotten, completely forgotten it.
M. OSMOND: I totally forgot. Tell me now and I'll be (INAUDIBLE) to hear about this later.
D. OSMOND: It was such a stupid little argument but, you know...
KING: That's nice though.
D. OSMOND: ...you let things like that go. Blood is thicker than water as they say.
M. OSMOND: Brothers and sisters have a unique relationship.
KING: I've heard. They do.
M. OSMOND: You know it's not husband and wife. I mean I don't know anybody really except for the Carpenters and they didn't have to work together like we did, you know. I mean Richard was a genius but, you know, they didn't do (INAUDIBLE) and stuff.
KING: Yes, let me get a break.
D. OSMOND: OK.
KING: We'll come right back.
D. OSMOND: All right.
KING: With the Osmonds. We'll be taking your calls at the bottom of the hour.
Tomorrow night, a major program on energy, the energy crisis, why gas prices are so high, we'll meet major oil company executives. And, Robert Redford will be aboard.
M. OSMOND: Can I be here?
KING: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
D. OSMOND: Boy those were the days.
KING: They were the Beatles.
D. OSMOND: Whoa!
KING: Wow!
D. OSMOND: Those were exciting times.
KING: Donny and Marie Osmond are with us. The DVD will be out in August called "Donny and Marie," nine hours out of 72 hours. It's nine of the best put together by Donny. It should be incredible. I can't wait to see it. It's going to be I think a major hit. DVDs outsell movies now.
D. OSMOND: They are going like crazy absolutely and all the information about it will be on donny.com.
KING: Oh, donny.com.
D. OSMOND: Donny.com.
KING: Now, you're going to have a big Christmas tour this coming season.
M. OSMOND: Yes.
KING: Are you anxious to get back out?
M. OSMOND: Yes, you know.
KING: Are you sure? M. OSMOND: Oh, yes, I wouldn't do it if I wasn't sure. I think it's just a nice way to just kind of get your feet wet again. You know, I mean I'm doing a lot of things. I do my dolls. I do my sewing machines with Bernina. I do, you know, my craft with Krantz (ph) and I have fabrics and knitting and things like that.
KING: And you got your dolls. That still goes on QVC right?
M. OSMOND: Oh, yes (INAUDIBLE).
KING: And you're still...
D. OSMOND: I've got sewing machines. I've got dolls. I've got all this as well.
M. OSMOND: Yes.
KING: I knew that about you.
D. OSMOND: Yes, you did. Actually, I'm kind of busy myself. I'm going to Vegas next month and then off to New Zealand and Australia doing a big tour there.
KING: What's with New Zealand and Australia with you?
D. OSMOND: You know I don't know but there's a buzz going on down there and I haven't been down there for like 25 years or something like that and got the opportunity. I said "Yes, let's do it, absolutely." So, I want to go down and test the market.
KING: Concert?
D. OSMOND: Concerts, yes. And then the rest of the year is going to be busy.
KING: Would you do Broadway again?
D. OSMOND: Absolutely.
KING: They wanted you for something.
D. OSMOND: Yes, there's something brewing right now that somebody...
M. OSMOND: Very cool, very cool.
(CROSSTALK)
D. OSMOND: There's something brewing.
M. OSMOND: And I'm keeping my mouth shut unless you want to pay me a lot of money.
KING: No, they were after you for a version -- the star in the show that was a hit in London and they thought you could do it.
D. OSMOND: Phantom?
KING: Phantom.
D. OSMOND: Phantom, yes, Andrew called me up and wanted me to do Phantom.
KING: Phantom.
D. OSMOND: I wanted to do it so badly but I was -- I was doing the game show Pyramid at the time and I couldn't do it. So, he said "Anytime you want to do it" and so it's the back of my mind. One of these days I got to play the Phantom, you know.
M. OSMOND: He is the Phantom.
D. OSMOND: It's the most manly thing you can possibly do. But there is something that is brewing.
KING: Good, Children's Miracle Network?
M. OSMOND: Right.
KING: Sorry you turned down "Annie Get your Gun?"
M. OSMOND: You're so bad. You know what I would have loved to have done it but like I said it was one of those things you contractually go to sign and you say something's wrong and that was my mother, you know. So, would I trade it, no. I'd never take back that time.
KING: True or false you turned down "Grease" on moral grounds?
D. OSMOND: That is true.
M. OSMOND: I turned down "Grease."
D. OSMOND: That is true.
M. OSMOND: And, moral, no. I just didn't want my teenagers some day to say, you know, "You have to go bad to get the boy." It was just a personal choice as a some day mother.
D. OSMOND: But personally, I mean, I really liked looking at Olivia during the show.
(CROSSTALK)
M. OSMOND: Love the show, great.
KING: You were going to be Rizzo (ph)?
M. OSMOND: No.
KING: What was immoral about the lead?
M. OSMOND: No, because she went -- she went bad to get the boy at the end. That's what Olivia did, yes.
KING: Rizzo (INAUDIBLE).
D. OSMOND: Yes.
M. OSMOND: And I can tell you, let me tell you something. They lightened it up a lot from the original script that I got.
D. OSMOND: Oh, did they really?
M. OSMOND: Yes.
D. OSMOND: I didn't know that.
M. OSMOND: Yes, it was a little bit heavier duty.
D. OSMOND: All right.
KING: What did you turn down you regretted?
D. OSMOND: Nothing.
KING: Nothing?
D. OSMOND: I can't think of anything that I've turned down that I've regretted.
M. OSMOND: I can't think of anything he's turned down either.
KING: You mean he's taking everything they call.
D. OSMOND: I'm waiting for the phone to ring.
M. OSMOND: Yes.
D. OSMOND: No, there's been a lot of stuff that you turn down and you just don't want to. I can't think of -- well Phantom, Phantom.
KING: What was it like, this is kind of a -- what was it like at the top? I asked that...
D. OSMOND: Yes, go ahead and book it. I'll be right there. Thank you very much.
KING: I asked that of someone once and they said "Wonderful. It was wonderful up there." What was it like, like you just sort of...
D. OSMOND: The singing, the adulation?
KING: The fans, what was that...
D. OSMOND: It was wonderful, marvelous.
KING: (INAUDIBLE). Show business is my life.
D. OSMOND: It is.
KING: Did it go through your head?
M. OSMOND: Do you know I -- Larry, we wouldn't have enough time to talk about the stories. I remember walking in to, do you remember when we went and saw the palace in...
D. OSMOND: Where?
M. OSMOND: ...the Philippines, Marcos'?
D. OSMOND: Oh, Marcos.
M. OSMOND: I remember walking in and saying "I have to remember this moment forever." I mean I'm 17 years old and she says "Would you like to see my library?"
KING: Imelda?
M. OSMOND: Yes.
D. OSMOND: Yes.
M. OSMOND: And she said, "Oh, it wasn't my library. It was Napoleon's." And I mean literally, Larry, it's like nothing you've ever seen in your life.
D. OSMOND: We've had some amazing fun. I remember -- to ahead finish, I'm sorry.
M. OSMOND: But to walk out -- but to walk out of that palace and to see children, you know, up to their waist in mud with no clothing and things like that those are the moments that I say "Wow, the experiences that I had were so fantastic but really is it about that? Or is it about what you can give back?" And that's really how Children's Miracle Network started too.
D. OSMOND: Well, but we've had so many experiences. I mean if you think about what we've done in the last 40-some odd years.
M. OSMOND: Larry, we worked with...
D. OSMOND: I think of it like the screaming and adulation that's on the screen right there, you know. How can anybody explain what that feels like? You walk out on stage and there's thousands of women screaming for you.
M. OSMOND: The sound system was so loud. It was louder than, wasn't it, who came to show, was it Led Zeppelin, yes.
D. OSMOND: Yes it surpassed Zeppelin.
M. OSMOND: It surpassed Zeppelin. They got up on the stage but, you know, it was an interesting era. I don't think that -- you know I mean I remember...
KING: You won't see it again.
M. OSMOND: ...being in London and seeing the balconies collapse with the weight of the girls screaming, you know.
D. OSMOND: Right.
KING: We'll take a break, come back. We'll include your phone calls. The DVD will be out in August, great pleasure to welcome them back together, Donny and Marie. They'll be back together again in eleven years. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. OSMOND: My biggest hit, I would have to say is "Puppy Love." I think the reason why is because my (INAUDIBLE) can relate to something like that, you know. It's not a puppy love. You know it's true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. OSMOND: Wow, where did you find that?
KING: She hated that song. The archives.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Before we get to some calls, a serious note, we know how important the family is in your lives, you're both very devoted Mormons, your thoughts of the story on Warren Jeffs and the polygamy movement.
D. OSMOND Very sad that someone would take something like that and go off on such an extreme tangent.
M. OSMOND: First, he's not a member of our church. He's been ex-communicated. He's on the FBI's most wanted list. That stands for Furious Brides Incorporated because they all want to kill him.
D. OSMOND It's a serious subject because he is definitely going against the law and he's on the FBI's most wanted list.
KING: Do you think he's hurt your own faith?
M. OSMOND: It's not our church. Larry, why don't you tell us? What do you think?
KING: It's funny how you'll never be back. D. OSMOND Just as long everybody understands he is not a member of our church and doesn't represent any of the tenants of the Mormon Church.
KING: Are you angry when he said he's a prophet and that he's practicing the church as it was meant to be practiced?
D. OSMOND Yes, it makes me angry because that's not the way it was meant to be practiced. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a great organization and it takes people like that that turns it and twists it and makes something so ugly. It's not right. I don't agree with what he's doing.
M. OSMOND: When they talk about it, they put the picture of the Latter Day Saint church in the background, don't do that. It's breakoff.
KING: Do you ever question your faith?
M. OSMOND: Do I? When I was younger, absolutely. You know me, I'm an opinionated person. To believe in something as difficult and challenging, it's a disciplined religion, you have to know it's true. I am not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints because my parents were, I am because I choose to be.
KING: Do you ever question it?
D. OSMOND Do I look like I have ever question it?
KING: Do you ever question it?
D. OSMOND You asked me that last time I was here.
M. OSMOND: I have a question. Do you ever question your faith?
KING: I'm an agnostic. I question all faiths.
M. OSMOND: You say you are.
KING: What do you mean I say I am. I am.
M. OSMOND: I know you question in your heart that as we get towards that passing through the veil, do you --
KING: I wonder but I don't know.
D. OSMOND I enjoyed your book about prayer. It was eye opening.
M. OSMOND: Larry, you are a wonderful person. You live with Shaun, I mean, that's huge.
D. OSMOND I could say something.
KING: We'll let that slide by. So you blew a friendship, too.
M. OSMOND: Hey, we grew up together. KING: Not that Donny likes to brag, you claim that Dylan looks just like you.
D. OSMOND Do you have a picture?
M. OSMOND: Isn't he the cutest?
KING: Donny and Dylan.
M. OSMOND: Announcement, Donny has agreed to let me do a Donny baby doll for my 15 year anniversary this year at QVC. We have Baby Donny coming out. He is so cute. Isn't that amazing. He's so cute.
KING: Your daughter's son or son's son?
D. OSMOND My son. I have five boys, no daughters.
KING: Wall, New Jersey, for the Osmonds.
CALLER: I wanted to ask Donny how he likes being a grandfather and wonder if he could tell a little bit about Dylan?
KING: You're kidding, what timing.
D. OSMOND It's the best. Everybody talks about, you spoil him and send him home. I spoil him, OK, you take care of it. It is the best. I'm so proud to be a grandpa. A great kid, hardly ever cries.
KING: Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
CALLER: How are you doing? I wanted to know if Marie is still making dolls and I guess she is.
KING: How often do you sell them?
M. OSMOND: Four or five specials a year on QVC. And in retail stores
KING: And you also go out and sell them.
M. OSMOND: We do big events and I do signings, special signings. I will be going to Las Vegas. You can go to marieosmond.com and it will list the Christmas dates and doll dates.
KING: Who is the doll buyer. Give me a prototype of who buys dolls?
M. OSMOND: Everybody from newborn to 90.
KING: 98 percent women?
M. OSMOND: We have a lot of men who buy them but they scare me.
D. OSMOND What about you?
KING: Are you out of your mind. M. OSMOND: I don't even like to say the word collectible, it's heart that connects generations together. People who say dolls, I can tell you story after story of a mother and daughter who don't have a relationship. See, I don't work with him, it will be 11 years.
They don't have a relationship and a doll brought them back together, talking, I don't know how to explain it other than I did it as a diversion from work and 15 years later, we're in the top three designers in the world now.
KING: We'll take a break and be back with more calls. Donny and Marie, the DVD, will be out in August. You're watching the end of a relationship here. Watch close and you can tell your grandchildren, I was there when it happened.
D. OSMOND Television history.
KING: Don't go away.
D. OSMOND Stay right there, baby.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. OSMOND She's singing quite well, too. She surprised me. She surprised me when she cut her album. I really think she has a good career ahead of her in music.
M. OSMOND: Can I use the pinky?
D. OSMOND No. That sounds lousy. One of these days we'll probably end up doing her show.
(singing): You are the sunshine of my life, oh, yes, that's why I'll always be around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(singing)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: What's it like for you guys to see yourselves young?
D. OSMOND What are you saying we're old?
KING: What's it like? You have the pictoral history of your life.
D. OSMOND Larry, we're very lucky to have all of that. A lot of people have pictures, but we have moving pictures. It's fun for us to sit and watch our lives, you know.
M. OSMOND: Rock-u-mentary. Paper roses, I was 12 1/2 when I recorded that song, Larry. You sit there and go. My 12-year-old, my 8-year-old, I don't think they could do that.
How do you do that?
I don't know how they do that.
D. OSMOND My teenager, 15-year-old, Christopher, found a box of Donny and Marie t-shirts in the basement of our house. He put it on, he was going to go to school with it. Do you really want to do that? They'll make fun. I thought he would come back totally dejected? He came running in, saying, Dad, can I have the rest of them. Everybody at school wants to wear Donny and Marie t-shirts.
CALLER: Hi, I think you're the iron man of TV before I ask my question. Donny and Marie, what does a person like myself doing music for like 15 years and finding it almost impossible to break into the industry, do you guys have any advice for steps I should take.
KING: It's the toughest business in the world.
D. OSMOND Everybody needs a break and Andy Williams gave us ours, then the work starts. I got to tell you, buddy, it's perseverance, getting to know the right people and getting our face out there, it's hard work.
M. OSMOND: And luck.
D. OSMOND I think you and I were lucky in our timing.
M. OSMOND: We had a break because our brothers were performing. You couldn't ride on their laurels.
(CROSSTALK)
Like "American Idol" is one of those shows.
KING: You do like it?
M. OSMOND: I do, I love it. I think it's so successful because of what you just said, how do I get a break, everybody watching somebody get a break, feel like they're part of it to help them get that break.
D. OSMOND You have to be careful where's the bar? Where do you put the bar of success? That is the danger of show business, the bar always gets higher and higher.
KING: Don Rickles does in his show a tribute to Jimmy Cagney, and he met Jimmy Cagney and Cagney said to him be prepared to face rejection, rejection and more rejections. If you can't take it --
D. OSMOND Get out of the kitchen.
KING: You're not kidding. We'll be right back with the delightful Donny and Marie Osmond? Let's check in with Anderson Cooper. Where are you tonight?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm back in New York tonight. Back indoors.
D. OSMOND I have to say, Hi, Anderson. I watch all the time. I love you.
COOPER: Thanks very much. I frankly would like a Donny and Marie t-shirt as well.
D. OSMOND I'll get you one.
COOPER: Medium and large. We'll have the latest on the record breaking flooding in the Northeast, we'll take you to Massachusetts where a dam is barely holding on, it's in a town north of Boston, hundreds of people evacuated, millions in damage.
Also, the president's plan for the border. Today, a key vote in the Senate on immigration reform and some behind the scenes arm twisting, can the president keep his party on his side on this one? All that and more at the top of the hour, Larry.
KING: That's Anderson Cooper host of "AC 360." We'll be seeing him in New York tomorrow. We'll be right back with more of Donny and Marie right after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
M. OSMOND: Take yourself home, you turkey.
D. OSMOND Cute, real cute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened? What happened?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to make a decision about the dance. It's either squeaky or it's nothing.
M. OSMOND: If we can't have the cream, I guess half-pints are better than nothing.
Okay, guys, you've got a date.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give us a minute to get ready OK?
D. OSMOND Oh, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What took you so long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
D. OSMOND Milton Berle, what a classic. I enjoyed working with him.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: How did you get to own all these tapes?
D. OSMOND Intelligence.
KING: Was it part of a --?
M. OSMOND: You want to go there?
D. OSMOND Yeah, I'll challenge you on that one. I ended up with the tapes -- well, there was an Osmond Brothers partnership...
M. OSMOND: Osmond family.
D. OSMOND: Osmond Brothers' partnership. That's where all the assets were. And everybody when they started getting married, started pulling assets. She got the ranch and some other properties...
M. OSMOND: I took land.
D. OSMOND: Yes, she took property. And I was the smart one. Actually...
M. OSMOND: He took the shows, and he's paying me to be here.
KING: You work for him on that, right?
D. OSMOND: Yes, she is. No, what happened is...
M. OSMOND: You can thank Donny for my jacket.
D. OSMOND: ... nobody wanted the shows -- nobody wanted the shows, because the residual was so high. It cost so much money to get these shows out there. But I ended up with it. That was the last asset of the partnership.
KING: Not bad. How's the land?
M. OSMOND: No, he did great. Fabulous, Larry. Meet me in Montana.
KING: Crown Point, Indiana, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Donny and Marie...
D. OSMOND: How are you doing?
CALLER: This is Nancy from Crown Point, I just want to say I love both you guys. Marie, "Paper Roses" is still the greatest song to sing on karaoke. Not that I do it as good as you, but it's good.
But my main question is, do you have any comments on you know, when Brooke Shields had -- Tom Cruise's comments on postpartum depression regarding Brooke Shields. And I know you've suffered it, and thank God both of guys have come through all your demons. But do you have any comments on what he had said about that? M. OSMOND: Well, you know, I think I was the first celebrity that actually wrote a book about it, and then Brooke came out with it afterwards. And then -- didn't he say something about all you need is vitamins and exercise or something like that?
I know that Tom Cruise does his own stunt work and things like that. If he had postpartum, believe me, he would call in a body double. Because it is intense. And I think I have made the comment before that unless you've been through something like that, you can't even go there.
D. OSMOND: You can't judge anybody.
M. OSMOND: And he has no clue. When he becomes a female and has a child and postpartum, then I'll listen to his comments.
D. OSMOND: And I'll say the same thing about panic attacks. Some people say, well, just snap out of it. Unless you've been through it, as celebrities, you have got to be careful to say things because...
KING: His church is anti-psychiatric. They don't believe in the whole...
D. OSMOND: I understand that. I understand that. Btu you have got to go through something to really have an understanding of what it feels like.
M. OSMOND: Even the silent birth, she had an epidural. So you know what i mean, you know, there's...
KING: Still that. Yes.
D. OSMOND: Yes.
KING: Fairfax Station, Virginia. Hello.
CALLER: Hi. I have a comment. Can I make a quick comment first before I ask my question?
KING: Sure. Yes.
CALLER: I'm a donny.commer. And I just wanted to make sure Donny knows how much we love him and how much he means to us. And that he gets better and better, every time I see him in concert, he gets better and better and better.
M. OSMOND: Oh, come on, don't go there.
D. OSMOND: Thank you. The check's in the mail.
KING: What's the question?
CALLER: I'm sorry?
KING: What's the question? CALLER: At the GT in Vegas, Donny talked a little bit about maybe doing something in Vegas that was more permanent. And I was wondering, does that include Marie?
D. OSMOND: No.
M. OSMOND: Do you see how fast he said that?
D. OSMOND: No, GT -- get-togethers -- I have get-togethers with all the donny.commers.
KING: So there are Donny.commers?
D. OSMOND: Donny.commers.
M. OSMOND: So do you think we should do something together again?
KING: She does.
D. OSMOND: I think it's inevitable that we'll do something together, but Vegas is....
M. OSMOND: How much are you going to pay me?
D. OSMOND: No, not much. But Vegas -- I want to work Vegas a lot more. I want to have a presence in Vegas. I think Vegas is amazing.
KING: There is nothing like it.
D. OSMOND: No, there is nothing like it. And so many people there.
KING: There's Vegas and everything else.
D. OSMOND: Yeah.
M. OSMOND: We grew up there. I mean, we did, you know, Caesar's Palace and...
D. OSMOND: But you know what? I think it's inevitable that you and I do something together. Whether it's a television show or some kind of a personal appearance...
KING: Because you had a great talk show together. It was -- that was a great show.
D. OSMOND: We had a good time.
KING: But it's inevitable that you two should be back together some -- I'm sure some suit, a television executive is watching tonight and said...
D. OSMOND: Well, we'll see. We'll see what happens.
KING: They could work again.
M. OSMOND: Well, I think we both like to work. I think we both -- we love good challenges. When you've grown up doing as many crazy things as we have done and worked with as many people as we have worked with, you always love that next challenge. And you know...
D. OSMOND: There will be something.
(CROSSTALK)
M. OSMOND: It will have to be something unique.
KING: Oxnard, California. Hello.
CALLER: Yes, hi, Donny and Marie. My question is, do you regret going into show business at a young age?
D. OSMOND: Good question. There are parts of me that regret it. You know, there is just times when I wish I could have been in my sandbox, playing with my friends, playing with my little trucks or whatever at home. I didn't have a lot of those experiences. But...
KING: Did you go to a regular high school?
D. OSMOND: No.
M. OSMOND: No.
D. OSMOND: I went to two weeks of the second grade, couple of weeks of the sixth grade, and a semester of college. And the rest of it was done through the mail.
KING: So you must have said, I wish I could have had some of that?
M. OSMOND: You know, I watch my children now, and I try very, very hard to make sure they have normal lives. But you know what, good grief, I look at high schools now, it's so tough to grow up in a high school.
D. OSMOND: But there is normalcy to it, you know.
M. OSMOND: I don't know what is normal.
D. OSMOND: Well, there's friends and...
(CROSSTALK)
D. OSMOND: I mean, I live vicariously through my kids right now.
KING: I have got to get a break. We'll come right back with our remaining moments with the Osmonds. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We only got about 30 seconds. You've worked with some great people. Lucille Ball you've worked with.
M. OSMOND: That's right.
KING: Groucho Marx.
D. OSMOND: Groucho Marx.
KING: Pinched you, right?
M. OSMOND: He did, right on the toush.
KING: What an extraordinary life.
D. OSMOND: We are really blessed.
KING: You are very blessed.
M. OSMOND: Very blessed.
KING: I wish you everything you wish yourself.
M. OSMOND: Oh, Larry...
D. OSMOND: Good to see you again.
KING: OK. Don't forget to help the children's miracle network, too. That's a wonderful cause. And the DVD will be out in August, simply titled "Donny and Marie." The money goes to him.
M. OSMOND: No, it doesn't.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Before we go to Anderson Cooper, a quick word about a brand new book. Famous forensic expert and frequent show guest Dr. Henry Lee hit book shelves today. His new page turner is called "Dr. Henry Lee's Forensic Files." Five famous cases. In it, Dr. Lee writes about the Laci Peterson murder, the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping and others. It promises to be a very insightful read from one of the world's best known experts in the field of criminal forensics.
Tomorrow night, we'll be in New York with a major show on the energy crisis. Why is gas costing you so much? Robert Redford will be among the guests, so too will be the CEO of a major oil company.
And Thursday night, the cast of "60 Minutes," with a salute to Mike Wallace.
D. OSMOND: Wow.
KING: Right now, let's turn our attention to New York. He's home. Anderson Cooper hosts "AC 360." Anderson.
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