Donny Osmond sympathises with teen stars
Donny Osmond sympathises with teen stars.
The 64-year-old singer shot to fame as a teenager, when he starred alongside his brothers in The Osmonds, and Donny insists he can understand the struggles of pop stars in the modern day.
He told the New York Post newspaper: "It’s probably worse now than it used to be, especially with social media. But I think what happens is that you become a puppet to your image.
"And there is a certain road or certain path that everybody thinks that you should be on. And it gets very difficult. Everybody is telling you what you should be like. It’s really taxing … when you want to do something and you can’t."
At one point in time, Donny had to fight just to have an influence over his own career.
He recalled: "I remember someone in management saying, ‘Well, Donny Osmond wouldn’t do that,’ and I looked at him and said, ‘Well, Donny Osmond just did.'"
Donny previously confessed to feeling "lonely" as a teen idol.
The 'Puppy Love' hitmaker - who previously had a Las Vegas residency for more than a decade - admitted that his on and off-stage lives were very different.
He explained: "I was just so lonely. You go back to the early 1970s, and you've got literally thousands of screaming girls at those concerts yelling your name, but then you go back to a very quiet hotel or the bus. I learned what loneliness is in life."
Donny admits that the music industry can be a damaging environment for teenagers.
Reflecting on the potential pitfalls of fame and success, he explained: "This business can eat you up, so I try to live as normal a life as I possibly can."
