Marie Osmond opened up on Thursday's "The Oprah Winfrey Show" about the last conversation she had with her son before he committed suicide. "When I heard him say to me, I have no friends, it brought back when I went through depression because you really feel so alone," Osmond, 51, tells Winfrey. "I'm not a depressed person, but I understand that place, that darkness."
Osmond, who struggled with post-partum depression in her past, continues her hearfelt recollection, remembering that she told her son, Michael Bryan, that she would be with him soon. "But I told him ... and the hardest thing ... I said, Mike, I'm gonna be there Monday and it's gonna be okay," she said. "But depression doesn't wait until Monday."
Her 18-year-old son jumped to his death in February after a long battle with severe depression which prompted his admittance to a rehab facility in 2007. In 2009, Osmond said her son seemed to be doing better, carrying a 3.9 GPA and planning for college. Before Bryan comitted suicide this year, he left a note on his bed explaining that he felt he had no friends and didn't fit in.
In her heartwrenching interview with Winfrey, Osmond explains why she went back to work only a couple of weeks after her son's death. "It was a calculated decision. I'm unique, I guess," she says. "I'm a female in the entertainment business who has been working 48 years consistently. My stage is my safe place." She adds, "I knew that if I didn't get back on stage that I may never get back on stage."
When asked if she lived with regrets or doubts about how she handled her son's situation, Osmond replied, "I think there are always 'what if's.' What if I had just put him on a plane and said come be with me, or gone there?" However, Osmond refuses to be paralyzed by the tragedy.
"I think if you live in 'what if's,' you stop living," she says.
My dear sweet lady,
ReplyDeleteI think the same as your dear mother , it is so nice to have children that love us as much you and my son.
You are so right about nursing homes , I think I can speak for your mother. We are so blessed to have children to give us love and make us feel safe . So my dear lady that is worth more than all the money in the world.
I look back on my life and am thankful I married a good lady and she was the driving force in my sons'life. I will tell you about the time she caught him boinking one of the housekeepers, I guess he was about 15 or 16 he was always a big boy, that's a story for another time with the Anita story.
My son and daughter are true lovers , he loves getting her along , when she was pregnant my son says she would get naked and do a little dance for him .
Joanna would look out the window and see my grands coming across the yard , Joanna would say those two rabbits is at it again . My son loved her from the first time he saw her and he still have that look in his eyes.
I could tell you some tales about them, my daughter father would sit in the yard and laugh about them, my daughter led my son on a merry chase. I asked him wasn't she kind of young and he said maybe but he will teach her how to grow up. Well my dear lady I think he was the one getting the teaching and still is.
It was my daughter destiny to follow her ex husband to California. When she returned home she went into the gaming business and I have 4 wonderful grands. So we all win.I will also tell you my secret of holding my liquor, tricks of the trade. The hands are quicker than the eyes.
Tell your dear mother I say hello and to keep everyone on their toes, if the young whipper snappers listen at us more this would be a better place.
How is your dear husband ? Has he started his treatments yet ? Tell him this just one more hill to climb, he has left the mountains behind.
I will leave you now and be back a little later, right now I have to go to the Patty post and tell you where the rest of my letter.
Dera sweet lady, I bid you so long until tomorrow .
Your cyber pal and admirer and love is so great.
Hunky G.
G man.
ReplyDeleteMy mother is intelligent, got all of her marbles. Any kind of senior or rest home would stifle that and suffocate her with boredom and rob her of her independence. She still has a good measure of independence.
I truly believe she will live longer here at home. I know some of the old folks who are put away and forgotten die quickly from lonliness and sadness.
Your son was very precocious for his age if he was pollinating the staff at fifteen. I would like to have seen the look on his mama's face when she caught him and I wonder what she said to him. I bet she never caught him again. That's not to say he wasn't still doing it. He was just more careful after that.
I think your son and Nee are well matched. They are both very passionate individuals (okay, horny).If they are like Brian and I, just a special look or a wink will set the fireworks off. Then it becomes necessary to find a room right away. It must be nice to have an understanding sister next door.
I would love to have my family all in one place or even in one town but we are scattered all around in seven or eight towns. It makes it so hard to bring them all together for an occaision, especially the ones in universities. We used to be a lot closer but gradually spread out. One of Brian's grandsons was at a ski resort out in the Rockies in British Columbia for five months as part of his college course in business management and now he wants to go to Australia, chasing after a girl he met out there.I sure hope he finishes school first. He is our wild child.
He is a good poker player and wins lots of money but not as much as his older brother who plays in tournaments. The last tournament was on a cruise ship. He really enjoyed that. Our children and grandchildren come in all shapes and sizes and they all have diverse interests. A new baby boy grandchild was born last week and I can't wait to see how this one will turn out. He is half aboriginal Indian so this should be interesting.
I agree with you that destiny had a hand in guiding Nee and Gil to each other. And it all turned out so well for all of you.
I would love to know the trick of seeming to drink more than you really are. Do you tip it into the nearest plant pot?? Pour it into a canteen strapped to your leg?? I give up. Maybe you'll tell me sometime.
Well, off to bed, hopefully to have sweet dreams, maybe even something sexy....Your secret admirer...What's-er-name.