At 48, '70s TV sweetheart is dancing into a new era

Marie Osmond's feisty spirit isn't the only reason we should be rooting for her to win "Dancing With the Stars." This year's champion will be crowned in late November, just two days before the entertainer launches her Christmas-concert tour.

Osmond, who turned 48 this month, chatted by phone en route to last week's results show (in which boxer Floyd Mayweather was ejected).

Q: The chance of public humiliation is so great on a show like this. Does it get to you?

A: Only if you let it. Except for (Cheetah Girls') Sabrina Bryan, the rest of us aren't trained dancers, so, yeah, it's been tough. ... But no one is having more fun than I am. I've lost 20 pounds, so I tell my fans to keep voting for me because it's the best diet I've ever been on.

Q: You've got a good chance considering how many Osmonds are out there to vote for you.

A: Yeah, I've said that if there are 24 million viewers, 22 million are Osmonds. They text me all the time, and I tell them to get off the phone and vote. They've all been very supportive, but I think Donny might be voting for Jane Seymour.

Q: Mention your name and people instantly think of the "Donny and Marie" line, "I'm a little bit country, I'm a little bit rock 'n' roll." Why does that still stick with us?

A: You look at television at that time, when there were only three networks, and we were a little like Leno, Letterman, "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood" combined. We introduced the country to the "Star Wars" characters. I worked with Groucho Marx. How many teenagers get to say that? It was really a unique show.

Q: What's harder: Learning how to waltz or rewatching the Donny and Marie movie "Goin' Coconuts"?

A: Definitely watching "Goin' Coconuts." Truly one of the worst movies ever made. But my kids like it.

Q: "Marie Osmond's Magic of Christmas" is your first album of new material in 18 years.

A: Honestly, it's been so much fun. I'm a single mother now, and my kids said, "Go out, be brilliant, do what you love." They are the ones that told me to do "Dancing," and they are the ones who wanted me back in the studio. My son Stephen sings with me on one of the songs and wrote another one. It's also the first time Donny and I have sung together in years.

Q: How do you make a Christmas album that sounds familiar but isn't full of the same ol' predictable dreck?

A: After 44 years of singing, you just put on there what you like. The first thought was to make it country, because I'm originally a country singer, but because of my Broadway experience, I wanted to do some "straight" singing. We also went to Prague and got some great symphonic stuff.