Donny Osmond On Spending Teenage Years With Michael Jackson: ‘Just Trying To Be Normal’

Donny Osmond opened up about his friendship with Michael Jackson during their teenage years, noting that they were just trying to be normal.

The 64-year-old singer recalled when he first met Jackson in 1971 at the Canadian National Exhibition held in Toronto.

"I remember seeing Michael peeking out the side of the curtain watching me during the show," Osmond told PageSix over the weekend. "In hindsight that was a pretty amazing moment, but at the moment it was like, ‘There’s my buddy looking at me stage right.'"

Osmond further shared how they were only "two little teenagers who are just selling amazing amounts of records and having number-one records and very powerful recording artists, and all they want to do is just be kids."

The singer noted those were "innocent" and "wonderful moments" before their lives got complicated and difficult.

Osmond also recalled Jackson's sixth studio album, "Thriller" that became a massive hit on its release in 1982, adding that at the time, he could not get a record deal. "I couldn’t get a record deal. I couldn’t get arrested," he said referring to 1993's case when Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse.

When he went to Jackson for advice that same year, Osmond recalled the King of Pop's response, "Well, you got to change your name. Your name is poison!"

The singer admitted he found that comment "quite offensive" at the time but later, in 1989, when his music video, "Soldier of Love" released without his name, it became a huge hit. "So Michael was right," he said.

Osmond also recalled the last conversation he had with Jackson, which was a year before the musician's death in 2009.

"I said, ‘Mike, where are you?’ He says, ‘I can’t tell you.’ I said, ‘Mike, come on. You’re talking to me. Where are you?’ He said, ‘Please don’t tell anybody, but I’m in Phoenix. I rented a tour bus and I got my kids and we drove to Phoenix and I’m in hiding right now.'"

Osmond revealed that Jackson's location was a nine-hour drive from his home in Utah at that time and he wanted to take his kids swimming with Jackson's kids.

"You’re going to have a wonderful conversation with my wife and myself. And I’m going to bring some normalcy into your life," Osmond recalled telling Jackson at that time. "And he said, ‘I really need that right now.’ But he never took me up on it."

On the work front, Osmond performed on "The Drew Barrymore Show" on Jan 6. His last album, "Donny Osmond - One Night Only!" was released in 2017.