Marie Osmond defends refusing her children an inheritance — to protect them from 'laziness and entitlement'

Marie Osmond, one half of the famous duo Donny & Mari, is reiterating her commitment not to leave her children a financial inheritance.

Osmond, 63, told US Weekly in an interview last week that she believes an inheritance, especially among children who expect the financial windfall, only breeds "laziness and entitlement."

"Honestly, why would you enable your child to not try to be something? I don’t know anybody who becomes anything if they're just handed money," Osmond told the magazine. "To me, the greatest gift you can give your child is a passion to search out who they are inside and to work.

"That's one of my rules with my kids. If you start it, you finish it. You don't ever have to do it again, but you gotta finish," she added. "And, I just think all [an inheritance] does is breed laziness and entitlement."

The comments reiterate the sentiment that Osmond first shared three years ago when she publicized her intent not to provide her seven living children with a split of her wealth.

"My husband and I decided that you do a great disservice to your children to just hand them a fortune because you take away the one most important gift you can give your children, and that's the ability to work," she said in 2020. "You see it a lot in rich families where the kids don't know what to do so they get in trouble. So I just let them be proud of what they make."

Anything else?

Osmond is in good company with her view toward a financial inheritance. NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, for example, has made it clear he does not believe in handouts.

Last year, O'Neal said his children must present him with multiple college degrees "in order to get my cheese."

"They know they have things to fall back on, but it’s not going to be that easy," he said of his children. "In order to get my cheese, you have to present me with two degrees."

And in 2021, O'Neal famously said, "My kids are older now, and they're kinda upset with me. ... They're not really upset, but they don't understand. 'Cause I tell them all the time: We ain't rich. I'm rich.'"

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