Recent health problems among the Osmond clan have sparked doubts about the apparent closeness of the family.

Mormon singing group The Osmonds always made a picture of perfect family togetherness, but a recent stroke suffered by youngest brother Jimmy has called that into question. The “Long Haired Lover From Liverpool” singer left the rest of the Osmonds in the cold as he recovered in private from the latest of the health problems to have struck the family.

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Merrill, Wayne, Jay and Alan Osmond first came to public attention as a barbershop quartet. With the addition of younger brothers Jimmy and Donny, the Osmond boys, from Ogden, Utah, found fame and fortune as a singing group and soft rock band. Sister Marie – although rarely part of the group – also enjoyed fame, both on her own and alongside Donny, with whom she has enjoyed a long-running residency in Las Vegas.

It has not all been roses for the Osmonds, however. The boys lost a ton of money, although they claim the experience taught them the value of humility. Bizarrely, Donny had to have a drugs scandal fabricated for him because as a devout Mormon, he was regarded as too squeaky clean for “cool” rock radio. Indeed, perhaps his only bad behavior was to steal brother Jay’s girlfriend. He did, though, marry Debbie, and he remains devoted to her.

Marie has had perhaps the roughest ride of the Osmonds, with constant struggles with mental health marring her days. She attempted to end her life in 2006 and tragically lost adopted son Michael when he succeeded in committing suicide a few years later. Perhaps contributing to her poor mental health was the sexual abuse that she has described suffering as a youngster.

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Donny and Marie actually don’t spend a great deal of time together, even though they perform in the same show. And this is a theme with the Osmonds. Jimmy was struck down by a stroke in December 2018, but he wouldn’t allow his brothers to visit while he recovered. This was just the latest in a string of health issues for the Osmonds: Wayne retired in the 2010s after a 1997 brain tumor; Alan lives with multiple sclerosis; and in the same year, older brothers Virl and Tom suffered severe problems too. The former had also a stroke, while the latter needed a heart bypass.