Donny Osmond opens up about learning how to walk again after year-long struggle

13 September 2021, 11:18

The singer had back and neck surgery after becoming paralysed on stage, but then suffered a secondary infection.

Donny Osmond has opened up about his year-long struggle to walk again after becoming paralysed on stage.

The singer explained how he suddenly lost all feeling in his limbs as he performed the final song in the last show of his 11-year Las Vegas residency with his sister Marie in November 2019.

"I couldn't feel my arms, then suddenly my legs too," Donny told The Mirror.

"I didn't tell anyone what was happening to me... I just kept dancing and finished the show."

Doctors diagnosed problems in Donny's spine resulting from past injuries, including one from his winning stint Dancing With The Stars a decade earlier.

"I thought everything was going to be fine, but it couldn't have been worse," he said after initial back and neck surgery was a success.

"I got a secondary infection which meant I wasn't able to move."

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Asked if he thought he'd never walk again, Donny said: "Oh sure, absolutely. It absolutely crossed my mind. But I just didn't take no for an answer."

He credits his "faith, a lot of hard work and positive thinking", as well as the efforts of some "great professionals" that helped him recover with a full year of rehab.

During his time away from the stage, Donny worked in his home studio on new album Start Again, and is now performing a solo Las Vegas residency at Harrah's.