Who Were Marie Osmond’s Famous Boyfriends?

Lori Acken March 12, 9:00 am

DONNY AND MARIE, Marie Osmond, 1976-79. — Everett Collection

Before — and after — she settled down with husband Stephen Craig (who is both her first and third husband — they tied the knot for the second time in 2011), Marie Osmond dated multiple famous men. But, as she told People magazine in 2019, she kept plenty of these relationships quiet at the time to preserve her good girl image. She may have been Mormon, she said, but “was not a nun.”

Here are a few of the fellow celebs who caught Marie Osmond’s eye.

Andy Gibb

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Blending two of pop music’s most famous families, Andy and Marie were friends for a few years before dating; they became romantic following Gibb’s divorce from his childhood sweetheart, Kim Reeder. And though Marie said the youngest Gibb brother was “very dear” to her, his substance abuse and odd behaviors because of it led her to call it quits.

“It was breaking my heart to see what he was doing to himself,” she said years later when she was a host on The Talk. The pair eventually reunited as friends, and Gibb credited the pain of their breakup for his eventual recovery. Sadly, years of addiction took their toll on Gibb’s body. When he slipped back into alcohol abuse following the end of his romance with Dallas star Victoria Principal, Gibb developed a fatal heart infection and died at just age 30.

Erik Estrada

Everett Collection

Marie admitted to her romance with “very nice guy” Erik Estrada on a 2019 episode of Watch What Happens Live — though she remained mum about when exactly her romance with the sexy, motorcycle-loving CHiPs star took place.

But Marie did look smitten with Estrada when he appeared on The Donny & Marie Christmas Special in 1979, and Estrada divorced then-wife Joyce Miller the following year. And it’s hard to argue that, with their shiny black hair, big dark eyes and Pepsodent smiles, the pair wouldn’t make a comely couple.

John Schneider

In 2018, the Dukes of Hazzard star told The Nashville Soundbite that he was in London when a pal called him to say that Marie Osmond was trying to get a hold of him. Marie told Schneider that Donny had jumped off a piano and “pulled his butt muscle,” so could he come and fill in for him in their Las Vegas act at the Flamingo for a bit?

Though he admittedly could not dance, Schneider took the gig, and delighted audience members at those shows soon found out why. He and Marie had dated after meeting at the People’s Choice Awards in the early ’80s. Marie joked that the relationship came to an end when she thought Schneider was leaning in for a kiss — and bussed Donny instead.

There were a couple of near misses, as well:

David Cassidy

Courtesy Everett Collection

Osmond herself never had a crush on the Partridge Family heartthrob, but plenty of her friends did. So when she found herself at the same recording studio as the shaggy-haired hottie, she thought she might throw her hat in the ring. She watched as the clog-wearing Cassidy headed for a drinking fountain and spotted an immediate deal-breaker. “His butt was smaller than mine.”

Michael McDonald

Warner Bros./Courtesy: Everett Collection.

Like plenty of young ladies in the ’80s, Osmond couldn’t resist the former Doobie Brothers frontman’s rugged good looks and warm, husky vocals. So she was delighted when her crush invited her to sing background vocals for him. Except she never made it to the gig.