Marie Osmond to miss 'Dancing with the Stars' due to father's death

Marie Osmond will not appear on tonight's live Dancing with the Stars fifth-season results show broadcast due to the death of her 90-year-old father George early Tuesday morning.


Osmond's publicist Marleah Leslie confirmed to E! News that the fifth-season celebrity participant would instead be traveling home to Utah on Tuesday.  Leslie also told E! News she did not "immediately know" if, should she survive tonight's elimination, Marie would continue her participation on Dancing with the Stars.

"He was a man of integrity, of honor," a tearful Marie told Entertainment Tonight correspondent Jann Carl prior to boarding a flight to Utah with her brother Donny Osmond. "He was the best man I've ever known."

The Osmond patriarch had been in "very frail, very fragile" health, according to Donny.

Marie and her Dancing with the Stars professional partner Jonathan Roberts performed two routines during last night's performance episode broadcast.  The couple received a 28 score -- a perfect 10 and two 9's -- for their quickstep and a 24 for their cha-cha, giving them a combined score of 52 out of 60 from the show's three judges.


Marie had dedicated her quickstep performance to her parents.  "This was for them tonight," Marie told Dancing with the Stars co-host Samantha Harris after completing her miltary-costumed quickstep.  "My hair-do is my mom's hair-do.  They met in the military... [and] when they got married he had $18 and she had $35 and they used to dance to make money to eat."

"I made sure that dad was watching," Marie told Carl about her routine.

"He was," answered Donny.

While George and his late wife Olive -- who died on Mother's Day in 2004 at the age of 79 -- had eight children together.

"I was his only girl... I was born on his birthday," Marie told Carl.  "I just wanted my dad to be proud of me."


"Oh he is," assured Donny.

The entire Osmond family had been planning to appear on Friday's broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show -- an appearance that was scheduled to honor the family of entertainers. It remains unclear whether George's death will impact the Osmond family's scheduled appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, E! News reported.

"My parents always had this little rivalry, maybe that's where [Donny and I] get ours from.  We just love to get each other," Marie told Carl.  "My mom, she passed away on Mother's Day, which was really amazing.  I laughed, I said, 'Dad couldn't be outdone.  He wanted to do it so he could be talked about on Oprah.'"

While the news of her father's passing was tough to handle, Marie said she felt like he lived a long life.

"I mean, good grief... 90!  Come on!  High-five daddy!," she told Carl.


Marie also has eight children of her own, and said her father set a good example.

"I hope my children love me half as much [as my father loved me]," she told Carl.  "If it's just half, than I know that they love me."






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