Jimmy Osmond, the youngest sibling in the celebrity Osmond family, is spending his New Year recovering from a stroke.
The 55-year-old singer soldiered through an evening show as Captain Hook in a performance of “Peter Pan” in Birmingham, England.
He was driven to the hospital immediately after the show, where he was diagnosed with a stroke, according to a statement sent on his behalf to BBC News.
“Jimmy is resting and recouping under doctors’ care in the U.K. and will take the next few months off [from] performing to rest and regain his health,” his representative, Kevin Sasaki, told USA Today on Tuesday evening.
His famous older siblings, Donny and Marie Osmond, asked fans for prayers.
“Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers on behalf of my little brother, Jimmy,” Donny, 61, tweeted early New Year’s Day, along with a cute black-and-white throwback portrait of the two as children. “I love you, brother.”
“Prayers for my brother Jimmy,” Marie, 59, wrote with a praying hands emoji and a link to a British report about his stroke.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers on behalf of my little brother, Jimmy. I love you, brother. pic.twitter.com/hXozXy6SuG
— Donny Osmond (@donnyosmond) January 1, 2019
The Birmingham Hippodrome announced Monday that actor Darren Day will step into the Hook role for the rest of the show’s run.
“Everyone here at Birmingham Hippodrome has been deeply saddened to hear of Jimmy’s sudden illness,” artistic director Fiona Allan said in a statement on the theater’s website. “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.”
Osmond, a married father of four, previously suffered a stroke in 2004, caused by a hole in his heart, called a patent foramen ovale, that didn’t close after birth.
“A blood clot ‘popped’ in my head,” he told Parade in 2015. “I went on stage and felt that ‘pop’ and then lost my vision … I thought it was a migraine.”
Kim Willis, USA TODAY
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