Marie Osmond Won't Be Helping Her Children Become Lazy and Entitled - Refuses to Leave Inheritance
Singer Marie Osmond stands by her decision to not leave money to her children when she dies because she believes inheritances make people lazy and entitled.
“Honestly, why would you enable your child to not try to be something?” Osmond told Us Weekly last week. “I don’t know anybody who becomes anything if they’re just handed money.”
The 63-year-old Grammy winner extolled the virtues of hard work, saying it promotes self-esteem and a sense of purpose.
“To me, the greatest gift you can give your child is a passion to search out who they are inside and to work,” Osmond said. “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.”
The mom of eight, who also has eight grandchildren, said people don’t appreciate what they have if they don’t work for it and earn it themselves.
“I just think all [an inheritance] does is breed laziness and entitlement,” the entertainer told Us Weekly. “I worked hard and I’m gonna spend it all and have fun with my husband.”
Osmond’s net worth is $20 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
The “Donny and Marie” alum first made headlines with her inheritance plans three years ago.
“I’m not leaving any money to my children. Congratulations, kids!” she said in March 2020 on “The Talk.”
“My husband and I decided that 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,” she said.
Osmond added that she saw firsthand how fighting over money can rip families apart.
“I had an uncle and an aunt, her family fought over a mirror and a table when they passed away,” she recounted.
Osmond, who was raised Mormon, believes children of wealth often grow up miserable because everything is handed to them.
“You see it a lot in rich families where the kids don’t know what to do, so they get in trouble,” she said. “So I just let them be proud of what they make and I’m going to give mine to my charity.”
The former child star underscored that she helps her kids when they need it but wants them to do their part.
“I don’t not help my children. I mean, [if] they need help [buying] a car or something, [I will pitch in,]” Osmond told Us Weekly.
“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 [it] gives you.”
Osmond joins a burgeoning group of wealthy people who say they won’t leave their kids an inheritance.
The list includes billionaire entrepreneurs, actors and other celebrities:
• Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
• Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
• Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
• Musician Sting.
• Musician Elton John.
• “Star Wars” director George Lucas.
• Media mogul Michael Bloomberg.
• Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus.
“If my kids want to be rich, they’ll have to work for it,” Marcus said, according to a 1997 Forbes article.
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