The former teen star opens up on her television talk show 'The Talk' that when she was young, she was disgusted by men to the point that she thought she was gay.

• Oct 23, 2019

AceShowbiz - Marie Osmond thought she was gay aged nine, after the sexual abuse she suffered as a child led her to question her sexuality.

The singer, now 60, opened up about the effect the abuse had on her on U.S. TV show "The Talk" on Monday, October 21, as the panel discussed Miley Cyrus' controversial comments that her bad experiences with the opposite sex had led her to think she "had to be gay."

"When I was about eight or nine, I actually thought I was gay," Marie said. "The reason is because I had been sexually abused to the point that men made me sick. I didn't trust them, I didn't like them."

"I was looking at women and I thought 'why am I looking at women? I must be gay.' And then I realised - because I'm a thinker - why did God give me all these great brothers and why did He give me this amazing father? And truly, that changed my opinion of men, which made me feel that it was something that I was going through."

Following Miley's comments, which she made during an Instagram Live session while discussing her fledgling romance with Cody Simpson, she returned to Twitter to address the backlash from fans - some of whom had gone so far as to call her "homophobic" for saying such a thing.

"I was talking s**t about sucky guys, but let me be clear, YOU don't CHOOSE your sexuality," Miley, who identifies as pansexual and gender fluid, tweeted. "You are born as you are. It has always been my priority to protect the LGBTQ community I am part of."