Singer Marie Osmond enjoyed her career and large family. It was thus a heart-wrenching loss when one of her sons passed on days after they spoke on the phone and made plans to meet.
In addition to working her busy schedule with music and acting, "Love Me For A Reason" songstress Marie Osmond mothered eight children with Steve Craig and ex-husband Brian Blosil.
Three of the eight — Stephen, Jessica Marie, and Rachael Laure — are biologically hers. The other five, Brandon Warren, Brianna Patricia, Abigail Olive May, Matthew Richard, and Michael Blosil, are adopted.
Marie Osmond attends the 13th Annual Essence Black Women In Hollywood Awards Luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on February 06, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. | Source: Getty Images
Despite the numerous accolades she has bagged over the years due to her successful music and acting career, Osmond still considers motherhood her most outstanding achievement.
However challenging motherhood is, it has always been equally gratifying for the singer. However, despite her take on her close-knit family and her children growing up with many siblings, one of her children felt alone and never fit in.
ADOPTING MICHAEL
Michael Blosil joined the Osmond-Blosil family when they adopted him days after his birth. His biological mother was an unwed teenager, and the pregnancy had been unplanned. Tragically, his father had perished in a car accident before he was born.
Marie Osmond with her sons Stephen [Far Left], Michael [standing] and Brandon at the World Premiere of "Toy Story 2" in Los Angeles | Source: Getty Images
When Michael was 13, his biological mother traced Osmond's house, and there had been no denying she was his mother. Their facial features looked so similar it was apparent she was telling the truth.
She declared that she did not want to intrude and was there to see Michael and ensure he was alright. While Osmond and her husband were hesitant to allow her to see him at first, Michael and the other kids budged into the room from the rec room where they'd been watching TV.
Osmond decided she would introduce him to his biological mother, and Michael could already tell who she was due to the similarities in their features. They talked for over an hour as the woman narrated the pregnancy and birth journey.
Marie Osmond with sons Michael Blosil [Far Left], Brandon Osmond [Far Right] and brother Donny Osmond at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA on September 13, 1998 | Source: Getty Images
Even though she left behind an address and phone number, the flowers Michael sent her were returned undelivered, and her phone number appeared disconnected as his calls did not go through. She had moved and had not left behind a forwarding address.
Years later, the woman would admit to Osmond that she wanted to let them have their life with Michael without intruding. She confessed that she'd had a tough life, and Osmond would later commend her for choosing to give Michael up, providing him a better opportunity in life.
INSIDE OSMOND AND MICHAEL'S LAST CONVERSATION
Growing up, Michael always seemed to distance himself from the rest of his siblings. After enjoying being the family baby for four and a half years, he had to adjust to having new siblings join the family less than a year apart.
Marie Osmond attends the 2019 Hollywood Beauty Awards at Avalon Hollywood on February 17, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Getty Images
Between his mother working long hours and his older siblings spending most of their time away on their rigorous after-school schedules, Michael constantly felt alone. Sadly, the feelings of loneliness followed him into adulthood.
One day he called his mom, saying he felt he had no friends. However, his roommate and new female best friend at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, where he was a freshman, assured Osmond that Michael never once spent an evening alone. He was always with the group.
Osmond could tell something was wrong with her son and became frightened at the change in his voice over the phone. He sounded disappointed and weary and was emotionally down.
Marie Osmond attends the 4th Hollywood Beauty Awards on February 25, 2018 in Hollywood, California | Source: Getty Images
She thought his studies were weighing him down, or perhaps the girl he liked did not like him back. Osmond said she would buy him a plane ticket to Vegas, where she was working, so they could talk things over, but Michael declined, saying he did not want to miss more classes.
Osmond then offered to fly out to Los Angeles the following Monday, her day off, so they could grab lunch and talk about what was happening. She recalled:
"I told him, I said, 'Mike, I'm gonna be there Monday, and it's gonna be OK.' But depression doesn't wait 'til Monday."
MICHAEL'S DEVASTATING DEMISE
Singer Marie Osmond is seen outside the today show on August 22, 2017 in New York City. | Source: Getty Images
Osmond was getting to retire for the night after leaving a friend's daughter's wedding. She'd just arrived at her hotel room alongside her daughter Rachel when her phone rang. She did not recognize the number and let it go to voicemail.
However, no one left a message. When the same happened several other times, she decided to pick it up, almost sure it was a wrong number. When she answered, it was the guard at her neighborhood's gate saying there were police officers there to see her.
He also told her they had an officer from the Coroner's office with them. When they found out she wasn't home, they came to her hotel bearing the sad news that Michael had taken his own life on February 26, 2010, at only 18.
Marie Osmond attends AOL Build Speaker Series to discuss "Music is Medicine" at AOL Studios In New York on April 15, 2016 in New York City. | Source: Getty Images
Osmond would later tell Larry King that her son struggled with adoption issues and had filled out and signed a legal form legally changing his name from Blosil to Bryan.
OVERCOMING THE 'WHAT-IFS'
Michael's death shook Osmond and the family to the core. But it also left the "Inside The Osmonds" star with unanswered questions, wondering if her decisions were why Michael took his life.
In retrospect, Osmond felt that introducing Michael to his birth mother at such a tender age played a huge role in his troubles and wished they had been more cautious, perhaps waiting until he was older.
Entertainer Marie Osmond poses before she signs copies of her new album "Music is Medicine" at Flamingo Las Vegas on April 9, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada | Source: Getty Images
Looking back, Osmond wonders what she could have said differently had she known that phone call was the last conversation she would ever have with her son. Her only consolation remains that she never ended any conversation with her children without telling them she loved them.
Her advice today is to always listen to a mother's intuition and never be too busy to listen and be with your children when your instinct tells you to because she'd felt that before her son's death. She shared:
"Your life never gets better. There is not closure, and how can there be in a case like that when you can't ask why."
Marie Osmond attends the Jennifer Lopez and Marie Osmond launch of the "Put Your Money Where The Miracles Are" campaign at Avalon on May 14, 2015 in Hollywood, California. | Source: Getty Images
Osmond also reflected on her regrets, saying that she had to get over the what-ifs at one point because if she had dwelled too much on them, she would have stopped living. To cope, she went back to work and performed on stage, which she called her "safe place."
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