Shock confessions by Marie Osmond's children on MySpace

Actress Marie Osmond, who has nine children, recently revealed that she was shocked to learn that the National Enquirer had discovered sexually explicit material on two of her daughter’s MySpace’s. To read what they had to say, click the extended post.

As a result, Osmond released a statment to the National Enquirer revealing that she is "saddened by some of the choices that two of our children have made. The insidious potential for harm from adolescent Internet sites like MySpace.com only exacerbates these kinds of problems. If my being a celebrity figure is good for anything, let it be as a voice of warning to other parents that no matter how protective we think we may have been with our children in the past, we need to become more knowledgeable and even more vigilant now in order to protect them."

Source: Contact Music via Celebrity Nation

Her oldest daughter, Jessica, posted on her file that she is a bi-sexual and is planning on having sex "as many time as possible." Her other daughter, Rachael, 16, posted that she considers herself a "slut", as well as a "whore" and frequently fantasizes about David Bowie.

Comments

My 13 year old son was spending a lot of time on Myspace. He no longer has an account and is forbidden to go on that site. I was shocked to learn what a vile and nasty place Myspace is. It’s not surprising to me that Marie’s children were talking this way, a lot of the kids on there do it. It’s a frightening and sleazy place. In my opinion, it’s not a suitable site for kids.

- gargoylegurl on May 25th, 2006

How awful for her.

I must admit I’m confused about why this article is here … it has nothing to do with celebrity babies. Wasn’t a decision made to focus on babies rather than other gossip like divorce and sex scandals?

- amelie on May 25th, 2006

Amelie, good idea.

And, why mention that Marie has adopted children? Is that entirely relevant??? I find it peculiar that adopted children are “outted” – why is that?

I am proud of my child and how he came to our family but I certainly don’t make it a point to say he is our adopted son.

- Principesa on May 25th, 2006

No, the decision was made to eliminate the Just Married, Engaged, and Split categories only. Marie’s children are celebrity children, which is the site focus. I have moved any explicit quotes to the extended post, which is hidden when reading the site from the main page.

Principesa, I will remove the adoption quantifier if it bothers the readers. I’m sure Shannon didn’t mean it to be negative at all.

- Sarah CBB Editor on May 25th, 2006

All I can say is that I *am* a member of myspace and myspace isn’t to blame for children’s behaviors. It’s unfortunate what Marie Osmand has to go through but in all honesty I think the problem lies within her children. And it’s true gargoyle… many kids DO act that way on myspace just in order to get attention and frankly its disgusting and ridiculous but don’t blame the website for their behavior because THEY [ the children] know exactly what their doing and to be honest, I don’t think they really care.

I think parents need to make a more active measure to know whats going on in their children’s lives… at least thats just my opinion.

I frankly use the website to keep in touch with my friends I graduated with and for those who live away at college.

- Lindsay on May 25th, 2006

Well I am 23 and actually maintain a myspace account but I mostly use it for private email and to keep up w/ old friends.

However that being said I also use it to monitor my younger cousins who have accounts. Two of them don’t know that I found their pages and one actually invited me to be what’s called a “friend” on hers. I was actually shocked to learn certain things she’s done. As an older cousin I try to maintain a good composure and try instead of threatening to tell her parents to guide her in a better direction (since her parents are so oblivious). But I realize the extreme dangers of the site and I do feel that people abuse it. I feel like Marie said it’s up to the parents to be aware of what their children are doing. My cousin has a computer at 14 in her room. So she’s free to do as she wishes. There would be NO way my kid would have a computer in their room. They also have a brand new program that you can install that allows you to watch every site your child hits on the internet and can even allow you to access them if need be. I think all parents should do their part in making sure that their children are safe especially in today’s world.

- joy on May 25th, 2006

I think this story is relevant to CBB because it talks about a celebrity and her children. Babies are my favorite, but I personally enjoy reading about celeb kids of all ages.

Lindsay, I may not have clearly conveyed my thoughts regarding Myspace. I don’t have a problem with Myspace itself, in fact, I too have a Myspace account. I am not blaming the site, I’m just saying that there’s an element of it that is particularly sleazy and possibly dangerous, especially for youngsters.

I think the key is to be aware. Be aware of what your kids are doing and monitor their internet activity.

Marie Osmond probably had no clue about the content of some of the profiles on Myspace. I will admit that I was shocked the first time I read some of the comments & viewed some of the photos of kids my son’s age! I would guess that a lot of parents have no idea about it.

As a parent I made a decision that I did not want my son being involved with Myspace. When he turns 18, if he still wants to, he can open an account then.

- gargoylegurl on May 25th, 2006

The thing with myspace is that you can put any age on your webpage….my cousin makes herself older so she makes herself available to older people coming on to her. She’s also got pics of herself and her half naked body which I don’t agree with but at the same time I’m not her parent. When I was 14 we didn’t have these webpages so it wasn’t an issue but today its a big issue. I just don’t think alot of parents are aware or educated enough on this matter. Even though it’s on the news for certain violations most parents probably think, “my kid wouldn’t do that” and it’s always the one’s you least expect it that actually do!

- joy on May 25th, 2006

Principesa – i mentioned it in the essence that i think it is absolutley fabulous that celebrities adopt children. Celebrities are often role models for the rest of the world and by adopting children, it sets an excellent example for the rest of the world and informs us that there are a large majority of children who need to be adopted for a variey of reasons.

Sorry i did not mean it in an offensive way. I am actually hoping to adopt a child when i marry, later in life. Though, it is exceptionally hard in Australia as it is generally limited to couple who are unable to have children.

- Shannon on May 25th, 2006

I am so sick of people blaming websites for the things that children do. I do have a myspace account that I use to find old friends and I am 23 years old. I was shocked to see people letting children as young as 5 have their own myspace. When you sign up for a myspace account it clearly ask that you are to be at least 18 years old.
I know that there are children that lie to get on to myspace because it is a popular thing. And everytime that I have reported them to the Webhost. I feel that it is a parents responsibility to monitor what children are doing on the internet. There are spyware programs and other programs that show what websites your children go on. Instead of people pushing blame around, they should be more aware of what is going on in their childs lives.

- Aunt Mary to Many on May 26th, 2006

Yeah I agree that it’s up o the parents to monitor their kids’ activities, if they even know how to use the internet. (My parents don’t, but that’s another story…)

Anyway as far as MySpace, Xanga, and other such websites, it’s really the fault of the people posting as to what a person’s page’s content is.

I’ve spied on my sister and a few other people just to see what they’re really up to, and what’s interesting is how a person may talk one way to one friend, while another way to another friend.

It seems like it’s the high school (or jr. high esp.) crowd who tries to get away with the most outrageous comments, pics, etc. just because they think it’s cool to bend the rules. Whether they actually do some of the stuff they claim is another story.

Still though it is strange to read what seems to be now the equivalent of someone’s diary, online…:?

- Autumn on May 26th, 2006

I have a 5 year old and it would be a cold day in hell before she would have a myspace account at this age…

She is lucky that I let her play on the noggin or nick jr sites..:)

I don’t blame myspace for what the kids do, the kids should be responsible for their own actions. But I do think there should be tighter controls on myspace or tighter monitoring.

- krewcat on May 26th, 2006

I have 2 boys, ages 8 and 5. They have their own rooms but do not have TV’s or computers in their rooms. They watch TV and use the computer in the family room where I can monitor what they watch. I have parental controls on the TV so any movie channels or programs with any other rating than G is blocked and a password needs to be entered (only my husband and I know the password). They also only go to NickJr or DiscoveryKids websites. I know things will change as they get older and make older friends but for now I am doing everything I can to shield them from things that are not appropriate for thier ages. I agree that it is the parents responsibility and not the website’s to monitor what kids are doing.

- Lore on May 26th, 2006

Well I do know that MySpace does have parameters set that if some lists their age as under 16, their profile is set to “Restricted” and so the general public can’t just view more than the person’s “name” (which is usually a nickname), supposed age, and an avatar icon.

However that can’t prevent some kids (mostly girls) from lying about their ages by a few years.

And for the most part from what I’ve seen, it seems to be a place where people gossip about each other over petty things from school…or so is the case for my sister, etc.

- Autumn on May 26th, 2006

I don’t think myspace requires you to be 18 to join. Atleast I don’t recall it. I know that at one point I had mine set to private by putting my age at 14. The only way someone can see your site is if they are on your list and obviously if you don’t know the person you don’t let them on your list.

- joy on May 26th, 2006

I’ve done a little digging and I see no reference to this story at the National Enquirer website. If this is a hoax, it’s an awful one.

And for heaven’s sake, enough with the MySpace hysteria. Remember when people said the same things about AOL?!

- Amy Keyishian on May 26th, 2006

Wow…I just heard about this and was pretty shocked. It just shows that even in so-called “perfect” families that kids can rebel. I admire Marie Osmond for taking a stand and being honest about what happened. It’s a good example for other parents when dealing with their teenagers

- sabrina on January 26th, 2007

My kids are 26 and 28 and both have wonderful Myspace pages. I think in a time of technology it’s wonderful to stay in touch with new and old friends and family from all parts of life. We marry, we get divorced, so this is what’s nice about Myspace. If you listen to shock jocks of course it’s bad they use it for smut purpose but it can be used for good. I grew up not knowing my family that was spread out all over the country now I see my kids have a relationship with all of their family. Is it good for people under 18 or possible 21? I say no but I wouldn’t condemn Myspace just because you dont know what your kids are up to. Kevin Omaha, NE

- Kev Mea on October 2nd, 2007

I have two daughters, 12 and 14, who both have myspace accounts, but my husband and I monitor their spaces. Our computer is in the living room where it can be monitored. Also, our girls pull us into their myspace friends by letting us know what is going on in their lives. It’s a chance for you go get to know your kids friends, what they look like, what their likes and dislikes are, and it opens up conversation and trust between you and your children. Their coaches have told the kids they need a myspace to keep up on the most recent events with their teams.

Also, concerning Marie and her daughters. If anyone would take the time to pull up Enquirer.com and search Marie Osmond, the ONLY thing that comes up is when Larry King asked about her son Michael going into rehab. There is NO article concerning her daughters. Whoever started this scandle really needs to get a life.

- Marti on November 25th, 2007