Jimmy Osmond Suffers Stroke While Playing Captain Hook During ‘Peter Pan’ Performance

Former Osmond star Jimmy Osmond had a stroke while he was appearing as Captain Hook in a performance of “Peter Pan” in the United Kingdom. (Jimmy Osmond / Twitter)

Former Osmond star Jimmy Osmond had a stroke while he was appearing as Captain Hook in a performance of “Peter Pan” in the United Kingdom.

Osmond, 55, was sent to the hospital after completing the performance at the Birmingham Hippodrome theater on Dec. 27, the Guardian reported. He was diagnosed with a stroke at the hospital.

Osmond was the youngest sibling in the family singing troupe the Osmonds.

His representative told the BBC, “On the evening of Thursday 27 December, 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,” the representative for the singer added.”

Birmingham Hippodrome’s chief executive Fiona Allan told the BBC, “Everyone here at Birmingham Hippodrome 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,” the statement said. ”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.”

Osmond began performing when he was aged just 3, and by age 9, he was the youngest artist to have a No. 1 hit in the UK with “Long-Haired Lover from Liverpool.”  He also became a pop sensation in Japan, known as “Jimmy Boy.”

He married his wife, Michelle Larson, in 1992. They have four children.

Stroke History

Osmond first had a stroke about 15 years ago, according to the Daily Mail. The stroke was caused by a hole in his heart. Osmond was in Missouri recording the TV show, “Jimmy Osmond’s American Jukebox,” when he suffered a severe headache.

“It came on so fast and I could hardly see—it was as if I had tunnel vision,” he told the Mail at the time. “Somehow, I managed to get to the end of the show. How I drove home I have no idea and I should not have done it because I couldn’t even see the lines in the middle of the road, but I was desperate to get back to my family and go to bed.”

He added: “The following morning I tried to get up, but felt so dizzy that I fell over. My vision was still bad and this terrible headache was gnawing away right at the base of my skull.” Instead of a migraine, after a brain scan, it was determined he had suffered a stroke.

Doctors found he had a birth defect known as Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) and a hole in his heart the size of a quarter.

“My doctor explained that over time, tiny blood clots that he described as ‘particles’ had traveled from my heart to my brain, forming a large clot, and this is what had caused the stroke,” he explained. “’He warned me that unless I had emergency surgery to close the hole then I was at risk of having another stroke.”

“I remember being on the trolley saying goodbye to Michelle and the kids, then just before I went under the anaesthetic, a doctor came waving a liability form for me to sign, saying, ‘I have to tell you that this procedure could take your life’, which didn’t help matters at all,” he added.  “The operation, which lasted about an hour, was straightforward but the recovery was painful. Afterwards I spent a week in hospital until I was fit and able to go home.”

He said his mother, Olive, died of a massive stroke in 2004 at the age of 79. He said she also may have had an undiagnosed hold in her heart.

Patent Foramen Ovale

According to the Mayo Clinic, PFO occurs “during fetal development” and “a small flap-like opening—the foramen ovale—is normally present in the wall between the right and left upper chambers of the heart (atria). It normally closes during infancy. When the foramen ovale doesn’t close, it’s called a patent foramen ovale.”

“Patent foramen ovale occurs in about 25 percent of the normal population, but most people with the condition never know they have it. A patent foramen ovale is often discovered during tests for other problems. Learning that you have a patent foramen ovale is understandably concerning, but most people never need treatment for this disorder,” it says.