Unseen Bond: Donny Osmond Reveals the Surprising Parallels Between His Family and Michael Jackson’s

In a revealing series of interviews and documentaries, Donny Osmond has opened up about a deeply personal and largely unseen bond he shared with pop icon Michael Jackson—one built not just on music and fame, but on striking familial and life parallels that he now calls “uncanny.”

Both Osmond and Jackson were catapulted into stardom at a young age as the seventh child in families of nine children. Their shared experiences as the middle sons of high-profile musical dynasties—the Osmonds and the Jacksons—created a rare kind of kinship, one that extended far beyond the stage lights. Astonishingly, their mothers even shared the same birthday, and the two performers were born the same year, adding further symmetry to lives already intertwined by circumstance.

“These weren’t just coincidences,” Osmond reflected in Paramount+’s Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands. “They were foundations of an understanding that very few people in this world could ever truly relate to.”

Both boys began performing at the age of five, surrounded by siblings and the intense expectations of family-led success. Behind the curtain, strong paternal figures—George Osmond, an army sergeant, and Joe Jackson, a famously strict manager—pushed them to hone their craft and maintain discipline. Their experiences of performing with brothers and eventually incorporating their younger sisters into the spotlight gave them yet another shared chapter in their parallel stories.

But perhaps the most telling insight came from Jackson himself, who once confided in Osmond, “Donnie, you’re the only person on this planet that knows what my childhood was like.” That statement, Osmond says, captures the essence of a connection that was equal parts emotional, professional, and deeply personal.

The two frequently reunited in adulthood, reminiscing and laughing about their mirrored lives. One particularly vivid memory Osmond shared was from the 1980s, when he drove Jackson down Sunset Boulevard in a convertible after an Oscars party. Osmond, then grappling with a career slump, contrasted sharply with Jackson’s meteoric rise. Still, the camaraderie between them was effortless. “We just sang and laughed,” Osmond recalled. “It was like being kids again.”

They had even planned a duet—one that never materialized due to Jackson’s mounting legal and public pressures. Osmond also recalled a poignant moment when Jackson called him during a difficult period, craving family connection. Osmond invited him to bring their children together for a playdate. Jackson, overwhelmed, never made it, but the conversation remains a touching reminder of the emotional toll both endured.

Their story is captured in rare archival footage and images, such as their joint appearance at the 1974 American Music Awards—a snapshot of two young stars whose lives mirrored one another behind the glittering curtain of fame.

While the world may remember Michael Jackson and Donny Osmond as teen idols from rival musical families, Osmond’s reflections reveal something far more enduring: a bond forged in the fire of shared experience, misunderstood by many but deeply understood by each other.

“I don’t know if I could have been able to survive show business if I didn’t have my family,” Osmond once said—a sentiment that, in many ways, echoes Jackson’s own silent truth.