Donny Osmond was left temporarily paralyzed after quietly undergoing back and neck surgery in 2019, and he feared that he would never walk again.
While chatting with UK's Mirror, the singer recalled his arms and legs going numb during the final song of the last performance of his "Donny & Marie" residency in Las Vegas in 2019. In that moment, he kept his issue hidden from everyone, even his sister.
"I didn't tell anyone what was happening to me. I just kept dancing and finished the show," he said.
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Donny soon realized that his spine shifted because of lingering dancing injuries over the years, and he would need surgery to get it corrected. After having surgery in Utah, Donny contracted a secondary infection and was suddenly unable to move.
He secretly went through months and months of rehab to get his feet back under him.
"I thought everything was going to be fine, but it couldn't have been worse," he said, admittedly wondering if he was going to be paralyzed. "It absolutely crossed my mind. But I just didn't take no for an answer."
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After returning to form — and now returning to Vegas with a solo residency at Harrahs — Donny credited his team, his faith and his wife of 43 years, Debbie.
"She knows exactly the sort of determination that I have and she knew I would be fine," he says.
There was some positive that came from the complications. While staying off his feet during the trying time, Donny was able to hunker down in his home recording studio and focus on his new album, "Start Again," which features the song "Who." In a music video for the song, Donny constantly dances around.
"I made the video about a year and two months after it all happened," he says. "Oh my goodness, just to get back to walking, let alone dancing, was really something."
