Marie Osmond's Son Michael Blosil Commits Suicide In L.A.

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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2010/02/marie-osmond-son-michael-blosil-commits-suicide.html
Marie Osmond's son Michael Blosil commits suicide in L.A.
February 27, 2010 | 12:44 pm

Michael Blosil, the 18-year-old son of Marie Osmond, jumped to his death Friday night from his downtown Los Angeles apartment building, leaving behind a note, ETOnline reports, referring to a lifelong battle with depression.

"My family and I are devastated and in deep shock by the tragic loss of our dear Michael and ask that everyone respect our privacy during this difficult time," his mother said through her publicist Saturday.

Donny Osmond, his uncle, said on Saturday morning: "Please pray for my sister and her family."

Tonight's "Donny & Marie" show at the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas has been canceled.

In November 2007, Michael, then 16, entered rehab, though what he was being treated for was not disclosed.

Osmond and Michael's father, Brian Blosil, announced in March 2007 that they were divorcing after nearly 21 years of marriage. Osmond and Blosil had two biological children together and adopted five others, including Michael. Brian Blosil also adopted Osmond's child from her first marriage.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

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[+3] - Swimpy - 02/28/2010There's nothing new about depression or suicide. We just talk about it more openly these days. I see that as progress.

Here we go again with another story of a youth suffering from depression committing suicide. I believe there was another one just the other day. I don't know what's happening to our society. So many off-kilter things are happening. This is such a tragic event.

1 Reply

@Mame,

There's nothing new about depression or suicide. We just talk about it more openly these days. I see that as progress.

1 Reply

@Swimpy,

I think it's happening more frequently.

1 Reply

@Mame,

i graduated high school in 80/81, from a school of over 1,200 students, there wasn't 1 suicide in the whole time i was there (not even a suspicious death that was rumoured to be), now there's at least 1 a year that makes the local paper and a few that get talked about in the community that don't

the ones that make the paper are usually a missing kid who ends being found later

1 Reply

Suicides are rarely reported on in Canada. but the stats are.
Sad. February is always a bad month.
There were several suicides when I went to high school. Sadly, many of the kids were native, mostly boys.

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@djjd62,

There were several suicides in my small home town among my classmates during and in the four years following high school. (Late '60s to mid '70s)

Mame, I'd be interested in your statistics. I'm not trying to argue with you, but gut feelings are all I'm hearing right now.

1 Reply

@Swimpy,

i grew up just outside of a small canadian town 6,000 population, not much happened that everyone didn't know about it

maybe it was all the pot in the late 70's but we seemed to deal with things better

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Swimpy, I don't have any facts at my fingertips.

I'm just saying it seems like there are more suicides, more murders by children, more children murdered by parents, more mass murders, more shooting sprees... it's so I don't even want to turn on the News anymore. Likely there aren't more, they're just being reported on more.

1 Reply

@Mame,

the information age has a lot to do with it

2 Replies

@djjd62,

Yes... remember when it took a steamship 6 weeks to get here from the UK with any news? Okay, we weren't born then but there's something to be said for the good ol' days.

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@djjd62,

I think you're right, jd. I also think that people have a tendency to romanticize earlier, "simpler" times. Jack the Ripper lived in a simpler time.

1 Reply

While this looks sloppy, the info at the bottom indicates that the rates are indeed decreasing (at least up to 2003). You can see a neater chart here http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html#death-rates

Quote:

U.S. Suicide Rates, 1950"2003
(per 100,000 population)
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003
All ages, age adjusted 13.2 13.2 13.2 13.2 12.5 11.8 10.4 10.7 10.9 10.8
5"14 years 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.8 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6
15"24 years 4.5 5.2 8.8 12.3 13.2 13.0 10.2 9.9 9.9 9.7
15"19 years 2.7 3.6 5.9 8.5 11.1 10.3 8.0 7.9 7.4 7.3
20"24 years 6.2 7.1 12.2 16.1 15.1 15.8 12.5 12.0 12.4 12.1
25"44 years 11.6 12.2 15.4 15.6 15.2 15.1 13.4 13.8 14.0 13.8
25"34 years 9.1 10.0 14.1 16.0 15.2 15.0 12.0 12.8 12.6 12.7
35"44 years 14.3 14.2 16.9 15.4 15.3 15.1 14.5 14.7 15.3 14.9
45"64 years 23.5 22.0 20.6 15.9 15.3 13.9 13.5 14.4 14.9 15.0
45"54 years 20.9 20.7 20.0 15.9 14.8 14.4 14.4 15.2 15.7 15.9
55"64 years 26.8 23.7 21.4 15.9 16.0 13.2 12.1 13.1 13.6 13.8
65 years and over 30.0 24.5 20.8 17.6 20.5 17.9 15.2 15.3 15.6 14.6
65"74 years 29.6 23.0 20.8 16.9 17.9 15.7 12.5 13.3 13.5 12.7
75"84 years 31.1 27.9 21.2 19.1 24.9 20.6 17.6 17.4 17.7 16.4
85 years and over 28.8 26.0 19.0 19.2 22.2 21.3 19.6 17.5 18.0 16.9
Male, all ages 21.2 20.0 19.8 19.9 21.5 20.3 17.7 18.2 18.4 18.0
Female, all ages 5.6 5.6 7.4 5.7 4.8 4.3 4.0 4.0 4.2 4.2

Note that:

The suicide rate has decreased from the 1950-1980 rate of 13.2 to the present rate of about 11.

The suicide rate for ages 5-24 (youth suicide) increased dramatically from 1950 to the early to mid 1990s but then began to decrease thereafter.

The suicide rate for ages 45-85+ decreased significatnly from 1950 to present.

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There has been an uptick in the suicide rate since 2003. Here's some info that helps to fill in the more recent stats. Looks like there aren't many stats after 2006 data.

Quote:

Statistics showed that the suicide rate increased from 11.0 in 2005 to 11.2 in 2006 in the US. The rate has fluctuated since 2000, ranging from a low of 10.4 suicides per 100,000 population in 2000 to a high of 11.2 in 2006, with a mean rate of 10.9.

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@Swimpy,

Swimpy wrote:

I think you're right, jd. I also think that people have a tendency to romanticize earlier, "simpler" times. Jack the Ripper lived in a simpler time.

It always make me snort when I hear sentiments like that. Do your kids run around all day with their friends on the weekends without you knowing where they are? Are they allowed to go to the store for you, even a mere 2 blocks away? Do you drive them to and fro school and other activities? Do you allow them to play hockey in the street out of your sight? Our family did - without fear of anything. We walked 1+ miles to and fro school every day and nobody was the least bit worried about us. We'd play 500 or Scrub or some such at a park 8 - 10 blocks from home without a worry we'd be molested or abducted. We'd tell Mom we're going to Susan's house, but by the time we got home for dinner, we'd have been all over the neighbourhood and my mother certainly didn't ask where we'd all been all day. And in the summer, we took the bus, by ourselves, to Stanley Park for the day, passing through the worst part of town.

This fear some have today is crippling. So, is crime on the increase? Is it just more reported?

I'm not sure, but those WERE the good ol' days when you could get up, have breakfast and then take off for hours without anyone living in fear or apprehension that you'd mysteriously disappear.

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I feel we aren't honoring the death of a unhappy teen by having this debate here. I started a new thread because it's a topic that interests me.
http://able2know.org/topic/142339-1

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Marie Osmond's Son Michael Blosil Commits Suicide In L.A.

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