Marie Osmond's fortitude of character, tested once again

I had an opportunity to see Marie Osmond speak at the Women’s Leadership luncheon for the United Way of Southern Nevada on Thursday, and at the risk of compromising my coolness factor, she was incredible! I went in thinking, “Marie Osmond—ha, ha, ha…” but she was an awesome speaker and I came away so impressed. Who knew, huh?


Her sense of humor came through as she joked about Donny and how Dancing With the Stars is fixed. But her speech really charged up as she told us how after the birth of her seventh (!) child, she was expected to lose 60 pounds in four weeks for a TV show and the resulting post-partum depression from all the stress. She choked up—in a sincere, not theatrical way—as she relayed that it was the help of her girlfriends that ultimately pulled her through.

Girlfriends. What would we do without each other? I got teary at that one, too.

She mentioned that she’s 50 now, and said that women our age have to remember that, whether we know it or not, the younger gals are watching us. (Note to Tara, Classic Rock Girl, Mandy at 30 and my other young readers: I’m doing my best, kids.)

Marie looks fantastic. I sat about 20 feet away from her during lunch and a little further from where she stood at the podium, but I had a good view of her. Gorgeous hair, beautiful face, unrealistic Hollywood body—about a size 2 with giant boobs—but I guess that’s what it takes. I feel like a freakin’ nerd saying this, but you can tell she’s beautiful inside out.

Hey, you know who else spoke for a bit? Carolyn Goodman, Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman’s wife. I just talked about him in my last post, and I would have been a lot nicer had I known he’s been married to the same woman for 47 years. Drink up, man! Mrs. G is funny as hell—you can see why she and the Big O have been together so long. It was cool to see her; she, too, looked beautiful. (I got this pic off the Internet).

After being so inspired by Thursday’s luncheon, you’d think I would have done my best show ever Thursday night. WRONG! It was, without a doubt, my worst. Sitting in my cubicle at work yesterday, I was all “WTF have I gotten myself into? Why am I doing this? I suck! Blah, blah, blah…” and then last night I was on FIRE—tightest performance yet. (The great crowd certainly helped.)

Joe Lowers, the comic producing my show, said to me afterward that you have to have those shitty shows because they make you work harder. He’s right. The Thursday night bomb propelled me to change a few items in my set and as a result, the show was greatly improved. It’s important that I tell you this so you don’t think it’s all so easy. It’s not. But don’t let that stop you from pursuing your own dreams. You can’t hit a home run every time at bat; just try to get on base.

I love you all. Really.

UPDATE: 3:30 pm

Just a few hours after I wrote this post, I heard that last night Marie's son jumped to his death from his L.A. apartment. Of course, I'm sad to hear of anyone losing a child, but having been so inspired by her the day before this tragedy, I feel particularly sad about this news. Sending prayers and healing energy, Marie.