Finding out more about your favorite celebrities seems an interesting opportunity to learn, whether it is about their dating past or unexpected familial ties. Throughout the years, several celebrities have opened up about their adoption stories, whether they were adopted as infants or brought home by their adoptive parents. Several celebrities have told tales of how adoption changed their lives which is likewise discussed in the following article.
Nicole Richie
At the age of four, Richie was unofficially adopted by Lionel and Brenda Richie, and at nine, she was formally adopted. The Richies were friends with her birth parents, Karen Moss and Peter Michael Escovedo, who were experiencing emotional and financial difficulties when Lionel committed to look after their daughter.
Gerald R. Ford Jr.
When President Gerald Ford found out that his “dad” was his stepfather, who had taken custody of him when he was a youngster, he was 12 years old. He also discovered that, in honor of his stepfather, his mother altered his name from Leslie Lynch King Jr. to Gerald R. Ford Jr.
Skrillex
When Skrillex was a teenager, he discovered that his family acquaintance was actually his biological mother. Skrillex real name is Sonny John Moore. Their bond was strained at the start. Skrillex fled from home to join an emo band in Georgia, but he later made amends with his parents before his mother passed away in 2015.
Marilyn Monroe
On June 1, 1926, Marilyn Monroe was born. Gladys Baker, her mother, was mentally ill and unable to look after her, so she was placed with foster parents, with whom she stayed until she turned seven. Marilyn experienced a nervous breakdown shortly after her mother made an attempt to win her back, landing her in the hospital. Following this, Marilyn was designated as a ward of the state, with Grace McKee, her mother’s closest friend, taking on the role of legal guardian. That only lasted a few years before Marilyn was placed in the Los Angeles Hollygrove orphanage.
Eartha Kitt
Born in 1927 on a cotton farm in South Carolina, Eartha Kitt became a seductive singer and actress. Anna Mae Riley, a black woman who she thought was her mother, adopted her. When Eartha was eight years old, Anna Mae started dating a man who would not let her dwell in his house due to her fair skin. She was then sent to live in New York City with Anna’s sister, who she subsequently discovered was her birth mother.
Jamie Foxx
The Oscar winner’s parents divorced when he was just seven months old, and his maternal grandmother adopted him. Speaking with two candidates about his adoption experience, the actor broke down in tears while presenting “Beat Shazam” in September 2017.
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The Black Eyed Peas singer was raised in adversity in the Philippines. When he was 14, he was taken to the US and formally adopted by Joe Ben Hudgens, an American sponsor.
Eleanor Roosevelt
When Eleanor Roosevelt was ten years old, their grandmother Mary Ludlow Hall took custody of them and sent them to live with her in Manhattan, New York. Her father, who was the younger brother of Theodore Roosevelt, passed away two years after her mother, who died of diphtheria when Eleanor was eight years old.
Daunte Culpepper
One of the fifteen kids of the late Emma Lewis Culpepper, who served in the prison where his mother was being kept, Culpepper was adopted when he was just a day old and nurtured accordingly. Culpepper graduated from Vanguard High School while residing in Florida, where they both worked.
Faith Hill
She was raised in a rural area of Mississippi after being adopted as a baby. She did not make the decision to look for her biological family until she relocated to Nashville in order to pursue a singing career. She was first informed by Edna and Ted, her adoptive parents, that her mother had to give her up for adoption because she was involved with someone who was married. That wasn’t the truth, as she subsequently discovered: her mother had not been able to care for her after birth, but she had later wed her real dad and had an additional kid with him.
Jenna Ushkowitz
When the current Show star was three months old, she received an adoption from Seoul, South Korea. Living with her elder brother, Gregg, in East Meadow, New York, she was raised. She is one of the co-founders of Kindred, which is the Center for Adoption, which offers assistance, services, and guidance to adoptees and their families.
JC Chasez
When this celebrity was born in 1976, his real mother gave him to Roy and Karen Chasez, her previous foster caregivers, in the expectation of knowing they might provide him with a stable upbringing and education. After he was five years old, they formally adopted the future member of NSYNC while raising him.
Richard Burton
Born Richard Jenkins, Richard Burton came from a poor South Wales household. After losing his biological mother at the young age of two, he was the twelfth kid out of thirteen. After learning that his coal miner father was unable to provide for him, he moved in with his elder sister, Cecilia. He was unofficially adopted in 1943 by Phillip Burton, a caregiver and instructor.
Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton was raised by his maternal grandparents after his mother fell impregnated at the age of 16. Up to the age of 18, the musician’s grandparents acted as his legal guardians and raised him with the belief that they were his parents.
Ingrid Bergman
When Ingrid Bergman, a Hollywood actress, lost her mother, she was just three days old. Up to his death when she was twelve years old, her father, Justus Bergman, served as her sole caretaker. After that, Ingrid moved in with her aunt, then her great-uncle and his entire family.
Debbie Harry
The frontwoman of Blondie was adopted by Catherine and Richard Smith Harry, a couple from New Jersey, after she was born in Miami. Her adoptive parents informed her that she received adoption when she was only four years old. Debbie was born and raised in that city. Following her time in college, she relocated to New York City, where she performed as a server and a go-go performer before embarking on her remarkable singing profession.
Kelly Preston
Preston’s mother got married again to Peter Palzis, who subsequently adopted Kelly after Preston’s original dad passed tragically when she was just three years old. After growing up in Hawaii and Australia, she finally made her way to California, where she studied theater and drama at the University of Southern California.
Ice T
In 1958, Tracy Lauren Marrow, better known as Ice T, was born. His mother died of a heart attack when he was eight years old, and he lost his biological father in the same way four years later. He then relocated to Los Angeles and settled with his aunt, who subsequently became his legal adoptive parent.
Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw, who was born in 1967, was raised believing that Horace Smith, his stepfather, was his real father. Tim’s real dad, Tug McGraw, an expert baseball participant, abandoned Tim McGraw’s mom during her pregnancy, and he discovered this when he was eleven years old.
Lance Armstrong
Edward Gunderson was the name given to Lance Armstrong during his birth in 1971 in Plano, Texas. He was formally adopted by Terry Armstrong, his stepfather, after his mother Linda wedded again when he was a small child.
John Lennon
At the age of four, John Lennon’s mother could not afford to look after him after their divorce, so he moved to live with his aunt, Mimi. John Lennon was brought up by his aunt and uncle on the maternal side in England from the age of five, following his mother’s abduction by another man and his father’s unpaid leave from his service.
Frances McDormand
The Fargo actress was adopted by a Canadian couple after being born in Chicago. A devout couple who were unable to conceive kids themselves adopted Frances McDormand as the ninth kid. Frances later revealed that her birth mother might have been a member of the community of the church where her adoptive father served as a preacher.
Melissa Gilbert
In 1964, Melissa was delivered in Los Angeles. She was taken in by comedian and actor Paul Gilbert and his wife name Barbara Crane, a day later. These ties in Hollywood were essential in Melissa’s casting as Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. At the age of eight, Melissa’s parents separated, and her mother got married again, giving birth to Sara Gilbert, half-sister of Melissa, who went on to star in Roseanne and is currently married to musical artist Linda Perry.
Kristin Chenoweth
At the age of five, Oklahoma residents Junie and Jerry Chenoweth adopted the Tony performer and actress. In 2015, Kristin shared her adoption experience on her blog in commemoration of National Adoption Day. She wrote, knowing that her biological mom wanted to offer her a better life since she loved her so much.
Bill Clinton
Bill was born three months before his father passed away in an accident. When he was approximately a year old, his mother, Virginia, a strong and energetic widow, left for New Orleans to pursue her training as a nurse anesthetist. Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, his grandparents, raised him until his mother came back four years later. Roger Clinton, Sr., with whom Bill’s mother was married, took Bill under his guidance.
Liz Phair
Rock star Liz Phair was born in Connecticut in 1967. Her adoptive parents, John, an AIDS researcher at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and Nancy, a historian at the Art Institute of Chicago, raised her in Illinois.
Andy
Andy, a comedian, was adopted by Allen and Sue from his birth in Charleston. When Abdy first saw his birth parents, he was forty years old. His mother, a teenage unmarried woman, had been brought to South Carolina to have childbirth.
George Lopez
George’s mother left him when he was ten years old, and his father left the family when he was two months old. Benita Gutierrez, his maternal grandmother, and her husband Refugio reared and adopted him later in Los Angeles.
Sarah McLachlan
The singer was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1968. At nine years old, Sarah discovered this fact. She claimed that although she may have been too young to comprehend it, it had never bothered her.
Jack Nicholson
When Jack was born, Nicholson’s biological mom, who was then 17 years old, begged her birth parents to adopt and raise Nicholson as their son. They consented, and Jack did not learn the truth until his grandma and mother passed away. Jack Nicholson was horrified to learn, at the age of 37, that the woman he had thought to be his mother was actually his grandmother.
Colin Kaepernick
At a period of five weeks old, Rick and Teresa Kaepernick adopted him. The Kaepernick family, who had lost two biological boys at birth to hereditary heart problems, was considering adoption when Colin’s mother, who aged 19 at the time, made the decision to give him up.
Ray Liotta
Ray was born in New Jersey, and at the age of six months, Mary and Alfred Liotta adopted him. According to his hospitalization, he was aware of his adoption from an early age. It was not until he was in his 40s that he had to meet his birth parents and siblings.
Lee Majors
Carl and Alice Yeary, parents of Lee, had both died in separate accidents by the time Lee Major was two years old. He relocated to live with his paternal aunt and uncle in Kentucky after being adopted.
Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi
Although Polizzi, a reality TV celebrity, makes a point of claiming to be Italian American, in truth, she was born in Santiago, Chile, and was adopted by Andy and Helen Polizzi, who are Italian Americans, six months later. Although her parents were reluctant to tell her about her biological family, she already realized she was adopted. As a mature adult, she eventually learned the truth. Her original parents were unable to support her since they had other children.
Steve Jobs
When Steve Jobs was born, Paul Jobs and Clara Hagopian adopted him because his real parents were immature and unmarried. After being married for a while and having a daughter, Abdulfattah John Jandali and Joanne Simpson, their original parents, separated when the child was four years old. Jobs never contacted his father, but he maintained contact with his real mom and had close ties to his real sister.
Lana Condor
At a very young age, an American family adopted Lana and her brother. Condor had the opportunity to make trips to the Vietnamese orphanage where she was raised as a grownup as part of a project with the Obama family.
Nelson Mandela
When Nelson Mandela’s father died of lung illness, he was just 12 years old. The head of the Thembu people, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, then adopted Mandela as a memorial to his father. He relocated from his little town to the capital, where he was educated at the Chief’s home.
Simone Biles
Simone Biles’s mother was unable to care for her and her three brothers, so when she was a toddler, they were placed in foster care. She and her younger sister were eventually adopted by her mother’s parents. The elder siblings were shipped to Cleveland and adopted by their father’s sister.
Jordan Fisher
The actor and musician claims that Rodney and Pat Fisher adopted him on the very 1st day because his original mom, who gave birth to him at the age of sixteen, was unfit to parent a child. He does, however, assert that he was fortunate to be adopted by the two most beautiful, unselfish, loving, and compassionate individuals he has ever met.
Gary Coleman
Sue and W.G. Coleman welcomed their adopted star, Gary Coleman, at birth. Regretfully, the star was not in contact with his adoptive parents at the time of his demise in 2010 and ultimately sued them for squandering his earnings when he was a young star.
Truman Capote
On September 30, 1924, in New Orleans, Truman Streckfus Persons became the father of Truman Garcia Capote. His parents were a peculiar couple named Arch and Lillie Mae. They frequently abandoned their son and did not give him any attention. Truman was raised primarily by his mother’s family in Monroeville, Alabama, throughout his early years. Nevertheless, his stepfather legally adopted him, and in 1935, his name was changed to Truman Garcia Capote.
Michael Oher
In 2004, while still a high school student, the Tuohy family adopted Michael Oher, a former NFL offensive tackle. It was through their children’s Memphis high school that Oher met the Tuohys. The Blind Side was inspired by the family’s experience, which attracted Hollywood’s attention.
Keegan-Michael Key
Since he was adopted in infancy, Keegan-Michael Key was raised in Detroit, Michigan. His father eventually remarried after his adoptive parents separated when he was a little boy. Upon first meeting his birth mother, the comedian was twenty-five years old.
Overall, people decide to welcome adoption into their homes and hearts for a variety of reasons. One thing is certain: all kids should have access to a secure, caring, and long-term family home, regardless of the reason—infertility challenges, the desire to aid a needy child, or a strong desire to expand their family.
