Jimmy Osmond suffers stroke on stage in panto
Star pulls out of rest of run after hospital dash
JIMMY Osmond has pulled out of his remaining pantomime shows after suffering a stroke while performing in Peter Pan.
The American singer and actor, 55, has been missing from the Birmingham Hippodrome show line-up since he was taken ill last Thursday.
A spokesman said in a statement: “On the evening of Thursday, December 27 after pushing through the evening’s performance of Peter Pan at Birmingham Hippodrome, Jimmy Osmond was driven straight to hospital and diagnosed with a stroke.
“He is grateful for all the well wishes and will be taking time out in the new year.”
Jimmy is the youngest member of 70s sibling musical group The Osmonds. He went on to have solo success and more recently appeared on I’m a Celebrity in 2005.
The Hippodrome’s artistic director and chief executive Fiona Allan said: “Everyone here has been deeply saddened to hear of Jimmy’s sudden illness. Jimmy loved being a part of the Hippodrome’s well-renowned panto, and his portrayal of Captain Hook was both dastardly and heartwarming.
“He won the adoration not just of our audiences, but also of all our staff.
“We all send Jimmy and his family very best wishes for a speedy recovery.”
The theatre has confirmed Jimmy will be replaced by TV star Darren Day this week. The panto also stars comedy actress Meera Syal, Union J’s Jaymi Hensley and Britain’s Got Talent contestant Sascha Williams as well as Hippodrome favourite Matt Slack and acrobats The Timbuktu Tumblers.
Jimmy began performing when he was aged just three. He became the youngest artist to reach No1 in the UK aged nine, with his hit song Long Haired Lover From Liverpool.
A devout Mormon, he lives in Utah, US, with his wife Michele and their four children Sophia Michele, Zachary James, Arthur Wyatt and Isabella Olive Renee when he is not touring.
He said in January that the Osmond family had “drifted apart” after their fame died down as a group.
He said: “We’re a normal family – we’ve had ups and downs. We see them whenever we can but we’ve kind of all drifted apart a bit in some ways because we all have families and everyone’s busy.
“We used to be in each other’s lives so much and I love them all so much but now everybody’s got their own little pod and their own families and we don’t get together like we used to on TV.”
Jimmy was driven straight to hospital and diagnosed with a stroke... he will be taking time out STATEMENT FROM JIMMY OSMOND’S SPOKESMAN FOLLOWING MISSED SHOWS