Marie Osmond is doubling down on her assertion that she will not be giving an inheritance to her 8 children and grandchildren, which caused quite an uproar when she first announced this.
In an interview with US Weekly, Osmond detailed the reasons why she is choosing not to give her kids an inheritance and why she still believes it is the right thing to do, both for herself and them. Here is what Osmond had to say:
“Honestly, why would you enable your child to not try to be something? I don’t know anybody who becomes anything if they’re just handed money. To me, the greatest gift you can give your child is a passion to search out who they are inside and to work. I mean, I’ve done so many things from designing dolls [and much more]. I love trying [and] I wanna try everything. I’m a finisher.”
“That’s one of my rules with my kids. If you start it, you finish it, you don’t ever have to do it again, but you gotta finish. And, I just think all it does is breed laziness and entitlement. I worked hard and I’m gonna spend it all and have fun with my husband.”
Osmond says that while she wants to spend the money with her husband to enjoy their own lives, she thinks this plan will also improve her children’s and grandchildren’s lives immensely by instilling a work ethic that none of them would otherwise have:
“I think you do a great disservice to your children to just hand them a fortune because you take away the one most important gift you can give your children, and that’s the ability to work. You see it a lot in rich families where the kids, they don’t know what to do and so they get in trouble. Let them be proud of what they make. I’m going to give mine to my charity.”
She also made sure to be clear that her kids would receive help when they need it, and that they wouldn’t be left completely on their own financially. It seems that they will still be able to call on their mom/grandma in their times of need, according to US Weekly:
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“I don’t not help my children. I mean, [if] they need help [buying] a car or something, [I will pitch in,]. I love them to learn. You don’t love something if you don’t earn it. And so, even when they get their first car, you pay for half of it, get a job and learn that self-worth that gives you.”
Back in 2020, Osmond first explained that she would not be giving her fortune to the next generation, in an interview with “The Talk,” according to Today:
“I’m not leaving any money to my children. Congratulations, kids.”