Marie Osmond Candidly Speaks About Her Marriage With Ex Brian: It ‘Wasn’t Happy for 20 Years’

Marie Osmond gained a big family thanks to her marriage with ex-husband Brian Blosil, but the former couple “wasn’t happy” despite their kids. The Talk alum opened up about the end of their 21-year relationship during an appearance on Winn Claybaugh‘s “Masters Podcast Club.”

“I just went, ‘I can’t do this anymore,'” Marie, 61, candidly shared in the episode released on Tuesday, December 1. “And my children came to me and said, ‘Mom, please leave. We gotta get out of here.'”

The “Paper Roses” songstress married Brian, 67, in 1986, and over the years, they became the proud parents of their seven kids: Jessica, 32, Rachael, 31, Brandon, 24, Brianna, 23, Matthew, 21, Abigail, 18, and late son Michael. Marie said she came to the realization that her marriage was crumbling after she lost her home in a fire in August 2005.

“It was probably one of the most freeing things that ever happened to me,” she explained. “Because I realized this home I had created was a facade to a marriage that wasn’t happy for 20 years. I really believe it was God — they say, ‘The burning within.’ So sometimes these things happen to wake us up.”

Less than two years following her devastating house fire, the former Donny & Marie star and her ex-spouse called it quits in May 2007. She later remarried her first husband, Steve Craig, in 2011. The couple were previously married from 1982 to 1985 and share their eldest son, Stephen, 37.

Because the Dancing with the Stars alum has experienced “sorrow” and many “hardships” in her life — including “eating disorders” due to the “sexual abuse [she] didn’t talk about” — she has a lot of “compassion” and “empathy” for others going through tough times.

“I think the greatest thing you can do is to try to love yourself, to forgive yourself,” Marie recommended.

During her chat with Winn, the Gift of Love actress also got candid about the tragic moment her son Michael died by suicide in 2010. Looking back, the Key Is Love author said losing her child was the “hardest thing” to go through.

“I was criticized deeply because I went back to work after a couple weeks,” she recalled while fighting back tears. “What people don’t understand is my children needed to see me get out of bed so they would too. They lost their brother.”

Marie is such a strong woman.