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Debbie Gibson: I’m ‘very lucky’ my parents didn’t use me for fame or money
Debbie Gibson believes she sidestepped a lot of drama thanks to her parents.
“I’m very lucky because I had my mom and my dad,” the “Lost in Your Eyes” singer tells Page Six exclusively. “I spoke to my dad last night, and he is one of my favorite people in the world, and I have a great relationship with him.”
Beginning in the ’80s, Gibson was managed by her mother, who died earlier this year.
“I jokingly but not jokingly say she literally threw her body in front of anybody that was out to cause me any kind of harm, and she prevented any sort of #MeToo situation from happening,” she explains.
“It didn’t always get her brownie points but got her a lot of respect, and it protected me. So, I’m really lucky that I had protective parents that didn’t want anything from me but for me to turn out sane and happy and healthy.”
Gibson, 52, released her platinum-selling debut album, “Out of the Blue,” in 1987 just before her 17th birthday. One of its songs, “Foolish Beat,” made her the youngest female artist to write, produce and perform a No. 1 single.
The Long Island native shares that her close relationship with her parents makes her feel for Britney Spears, another former teen pop star, who was freed from an allegedly abusive 13-year conservatorship overseen by her father, Jamie Spears, in November 2021.
“It’s very easy to kind of mock her social media posts,” Gibson tells us, referencing the 41-year-old “Toxic” singer’s frequent naked photos. “But I see somebody who is joyful and just dying to get out of that bubble. She’s a natural performer, so if she has to perform in her living room, on social media, that’s what she’s going to do.”
“But I hope she finds her stage again,” she adds.
Gibson is currently on tour and recently released a Christmas album called “Winterlicious,” although she prefers to call it a holiday album.
“There is an original Hanukkah song that I wrote and all the nondenominational stuff like ‘Let It Snow,'” she explains.
As for her back catalog, the Broadway star acknowledges it’s “crazy” that songs she wrote as a teen in her bedroom ever saw “the light of day at a time when we didn’t know anyone in the music business,” adding, “We literally made it happen with good old-fashioned hard work and perseverance.”