Marie Osmond reveals the advice she would give to her younger self when she became a mom

Marie Osmond wishes she had been "better" at certain things during the early stages of motherhood.

The 64-year-old star - who is married to Steve Craig and has Stephen Jr., 40, with him but also has Rachael, Jessica, Brandon, Brianna, Matthew, and Abigail with former husband Brian Blosil - reflected on the time when her children were growing up and insisted that mothers need to realise that their kids will "divorce" them at some point during their adolescence.

She told this week's edition of UsWeekly: "Your child really needs boundaries. They need to know you love them enough to say no. I probably would have been better on a few things.

"Teenagers especially [with] girls. You have to realize as a mother, you love them so much that there's a period when your daughters will divorce you and need to become themselves."

The former Osmonds star - who shot to fame as part of a singing duo with her brother Donny in the late 1970s - has a reported net worth of $20 million but has chosen not to leave any of it to her children because she wants them to be able to find their own way in the world without relying on a trust fund.

She said: "I've never seen a trust fund baby that knows who they are and has a desire to get out in the world and become something."

The former talk show host is happy to "help" her children out financially but joked that her job is actually to "spoil" her eight grandchildren instead.

She said: "I help my children, but my job isn't to spoil them. My job is to spoil my grandchildren."