Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid was corrected by music legend Donny Osmond as she questioned him about his experiences growing up in the spotlight.
During Thursday’s show, Susanna and co-host Ed Balls spoke to Donny via video link about his Las Vegas residency, where he performs with an AI version of his 14-year-old self.
As they discussed the challenges faced by child stars, Susanna made a well-intentioned mistake. She said: “Are we propelling people into adulthood too soon? The actor Milly Bobby Brown spoke about the media won’t let her grow up.
“You know she’s sort of frozen, we want people to stay frozen where they were.”
Susanna added: “A lot of people have had bad experiences! Guy Chambers said that people shouldn’t join boy bands until they’re 18 as one suggestion to protect children.
“But you’re embracing of your 14-year-old self’s experience; you’ve had no experiences that relate to that,” reports the Manchester Evening News.
Donny corrected her, saying: “Well that’s not quite true. That’s not quite true.
“I went through a very difficult time of transitioning from a teeny bopper to an adult entertainer and for people to accept all of that it was a very difficult transition.
“But what happened with me was that I was accepted for when Soldier Blood came out and when Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat came out, when I won Dancing with the Stars or Strictly.
“Those type of shows helped to establish me as an adult. It’s a lot easier to go back and embrace the teeny-bopper career because I was already accepted as an adult,” he explained.
Donny first gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds from the age of five years old, gaining a number of top ten hits and gold albums. Later on, in the early 1970s, Donny began a solo career, earning several additional top 10 songs.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.