Terrorists Stalk Donny & Marie Osmond!

All around them lay the home-made and store-bought cookies and cakes sent to them by fans. Donny and Marie Osmond could read the cards, acknowledge the well wishes, but that was all. Because to taste even one of those innocent-looking confections could have been flirting with death! Any one might have been poisoned by some deranged and vicious person.

Death threats are, unfortunately, not new to the Osmond family, who have had to live with the knowledge that fame and popularity often breeds animosity. Lately, however, things have gotten worse—the threats have become more numerous and more frequent. Marie Osmond, the 17-year-old co-star of The Donny and Marie Show had to be given 24-hour protection during taping of the show in Hollywood, and both she and Donny, her 19-year-old superstar brother, were constantly bumping into bodyguards whenever they turned around. The experience left them drained and somewhat shattered, and caused a decision which may have a profound effect on their lives and careers.

Donny and Marie, with the advice of their parents, of course, have told the ABC producers that they want to abandon Hollywood and do their TV show at Brigham Young University in Utah. If the truth be told, none of the Osmonds ever felt particularly comfortable living in West Los Angeles, but it was understandably necessary for the taping of their TV show. Home for the entire clan is the Riviera Apartments, a complex of buildings that the Osmonds own and live in. Also, it is right across the street from Brigham Young University, and the Osmonds could practically fall out of their beds and be at work in a few minutes. Yet, convenience is certainly not their main concern. Protection is, and home in Utah, the unsavory elements of society who might want to hurt them.

The threat of poisoning is one that is very real to the Osmonds. Recently, something Donny ate gave him food poisoning, and as he explains it, “No one knows how or why. I got very sick. Our family doctor said I was dehydrated considerably, and it was best to put me in the hospital.” Now, Donny might have come by this bout of food poisoning in the usual manner, but considering the nature of the threats he’s been getting lately, he might have been poisoned maliciously by someone who wished him harm.

It is difficult to imagine why anyone might want to hurt Donny or Marie Osmond, but the facts cannot be denied. Besides poisoning threats, the Osmonds have received bombing threats over the years and crank letters and phone calls. Donny believes his enormous popularity might be enough motivation to send someone over the edge. “We believe,” he said, “that a lot of the threats come from the boy friends of girls who dig us. And they can be angry enough to try something.” Once, the Osmonds had all their costumes destroyed by a suspicious fire, and once a crazed man leaped onto the stage when they were touring and brandished a gun at the shocked performers. Another time, in France, a Hells Angels type of group threw rotten vegetables at the family, and when they travel in England, the Osmonds always have to go incognito. They have been mobbed at London’s Heathrow Airport, and been denied entrance to various hotels for fear of riots. It’s a true enough phenomenon, but one that father George Osmond admits “is a little scary at times.”

There was a time when the Osmonds thought London was a safer place for them to live. Since then, all the boys have learned karate to defend themselves in case of attack, and they have even incorporated the karate movements into their act. Although they try to be light about the threats, there is no denying their enormous fear. At home in Utah, they would probably feel more secure, especially among the members of their own religious sect, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormons.

Religion has always held a very prominent place in the lives of the Osmond clan. Donny and Marie have been especially outspoken about their views on chastity, not taking or drinking intoxicants, and the need for faith in their lives and in the lives of others. Some people feel that the Osmonds’ open proselytizing may have made them some enemies, and that these may be the people who have been threatening them lately. Also, some unbalanced person might be jealous of the Osmonds’ close family ties in an age when the family unit is clearly breaking apart under the pressures of modern life. Donny, Marie, and indeed their entire family, seem the epitome of sweetness and light. They embody all that is wholesome and squeaky clean, and this, unfortunately, makes some people enraged. They sing rock and country music, and yet they are the only members of the music community who manage to hold on to an unblemished image. Some people may not believe they are sincere, but as brother Merrill insists, “We are sincere in what we believe in. We’re not phony. People say, ‘Hey, you guys can’t smile all the time—you’re not real.’ Well, we are real. We are happy people.”

Being near home to carry on their work—the work of the Church, as the nine Osmond children and their parents see it—would make them even happier. Because then they could have it all—the work and the togetherness they crave. The Osmonds are a tightly-knit family who see their mission as making people happy with their music. It is unfortunate that they can’t do that for everyone, but they can still try. And the bottom line is—they are entitled to their beliefs, as long as they don’t hurt anyone. In the meantime, they are taking precautions to see that no one hurts them, either.

THE END

—BY BONNIE ARMEL

See ABC’s Donny And Marie show.

 

It is a quote. SCREEN STARS MAGAZINE JULY 1977