Music
The Surgery That Left Donny Osmond Temporarily Paralyzed
In 2019, as he was performing the final show of his Las Vegas residency with his sister, Donny Osmond suddenly felt his body go numb, he revealed in a 2021 interview with Mirror. “I couldn’t feel my arms, then suddenly my legs, too,” he said. “I didn’t tell anyone what was happening to me… I just kept dancing and finished the show.”
After somehow completing the choreographed show he knew so well, he was told that his spine had shifted as a result of past injuries, including a mishap he suffered while rehearsing for “Dancing With the Stars” a decade prior. Osmond didn’t tell fans as he underwent back and neck surgeries — or that he had a serious post-op complication. “I thought everything was going to be fine but it couldn’t have been worse,” Osmond told the outlet. “I got a secondary infection, which meant I wasn’t able to move.”
While facing temporary paralysis, the singer admitted that he considered the fact he may never walk again. “It absolutely crossed my mind. But I just didn’t take no for an answer,” he said. After extensive rehabilitation, the father of five was walking again following the 12-month ordeal.
