Adopted Woman Finds Out She Grew Up Watching Her Birth Mother on TV

Tam fam please welcome to the studio Lisa Wright going back to your childhood you were surrounded by love raised in a loving home and there was really no desire on your part to search out answers that a lot of kids who are adopted honestly at some point come too you know my mom made sure that I felt good about being adopted she told me that my biological mom loved me so much but she knew she couldn't take care of me and she allowed her to take care of me instead and so she really just painted a picture of you've got two moms who love you so much and so you know from that I I never felt angry or you know upset or abandoned yeah there was just a little part of me you know I didn't look like anyone in my family and it was just glaring all the time because everybody looked like each other except for me and so that was something that was just always with me but in terms of being happy I was in terms of love I had lots of it it was just that little you know that little feeling knowing that you know this is your family but this is not where you came from your parents passed away in 2006 and 2010 yeah and you say you felt like an orphan at the age of 54. I did you know my daddy passed away in 2006 and my mom passed away in 2010 and I just remember having a conversation with my son and I said you know when you lose your mom you just feel like you're just out here in this world all about yourself you know just just lost and you know I think that there was some divine intervention and I think my mom looked down and said this girl needs some help so we're going to step in so you went to the space of feeling lost you go through you take the DNA test after your son pushed you my son Nick said Mom go take the DNA test and at the time he just said take it so we can find out what we're made of because you know we didn't know right and um I thought okay you know I'll do it you know there was a a there's always been a small part of me you know that felt like even if I did try to look like I don't know what would happen I don't know if I would be accepted I don't know if I would be rejected I don't know if I was some secret I just didn't know and part of me didn't want to know you know um because everything was fine when you're fears of maybe being rejected or this part of the story that wouldn't turn into the beautiful Journey that it has when that fear was not real and your uncle said you were lost and we've been waiting to find you what was that like my uncle I I I spoke to him on the phone and this all took about a matter of an hour honestly it was really quick and really fast and I'm telling him what I knew about my biological mom and halfway through my sentence he just stopped me and said Lisa let me just stop you right now and I thought okay he's going to tell me to never contact him again and to never call him again and this is why I didn't want to do this but he said Lisa let me stop you right now you're my niece and at this moment you're my favorite niece die [Applause] I told her birth mom's name a photo popped up and Lisa immediately recognized her as an actress that she'd watched growing up coming up we'll meet Lisa's birth mom and you'll find out who she is [Applause] we are back with Lisa Wright who recently reunited with her birth mother 50 years after she was put up for adoption when Lisa went in search of her mom she put the name in given to her by her uncle and this is who she found well I think I got the dishes out of the way thought you might like a piece of pie oh thanks sis you know that was some dinner Mama made she's usually such a great cook I mean her pot roast is terrific her ribs are fantastic so whatever possessed her to try a trout casserole looks like it's still swimming Upstream trying to jump my kidneys [Applause] Lisa was shocked when she found out her mom is actress Lynn Moody who starred in shows like Roots Knots Landing and the 70s sitcom we just saw in that clip that's my mama Lisa used to watch the show like me as a child she didn't know she was watching her mother Lynn Moody joins us now Lynn come on out [Applause] oh my gosh ah so nice to me nice to meet you same eyes same but Lisa you were saying you were looking for people you look your twin is here thank goodness by the way Lynn you've said that giving Lisa up for adoption we're 18. I was 18. I was away from home for the first time I was out in California going to school and had a one-night stand with the guy that I liked at the time didn't like afterwards and um found out that I was pregnant so my parents you know were conservative my father was a doctor actually in Chicago and so they found a home for unwed mothers that they sent me to where I stayed for the next eight months because I entered really early then when it was time for me to deliver went over to the hospital floor and um they thought that it would be best for me you know if I didn't see my baby if I didn't see her because otherwise I wouldn't be able to forget her is it true they covered your eyes it is so they put a cloth a towel over my face when she was born so I couldn't see her but I could hear her cry I could hear her crying and I said I'm sorry baby I'm sorry and they took her away and I never saw her again and so you know I had to live with that I had to live with the tremendous guilt that I have a child a daughter she's out there I don't know if she's alive if she's happy if she's hungry if she's safe if she's secure nothing because I had to sign away on my rights in order for her to be adopted and so I just tried to learn how to live with it and go on with my life and we never talked about it in my family did you when you were in your career and you were doing these shows and you're on TV did you ever wonder like she might be watching me you know what I never did you never wondered I was so full of guilt that even when good things happened to me you know when I got great roles not Landing so that's my mama was the very first series I still had this whole you know this pain this guilt that I was living with that I left this baby yeah and I don't know that she was adopted they told me she would be right away because of things but um yeah Lisa yes it is not lost on me that you go on the internet and you find your mama on that's my mama [Applause] I know right I mean you can't make it I know you can't make it that's my mama yeah that's incredible I know well the first thing that I thought when her photo popped up I looked at it and I that was the first time I saw someone who looked like me yeah so that was the very first thought that I had was like oh my goodness this is who I look like this I finally see someone who looks like me like this is why I look this way and then 15 seconds after that I went wait a minute wait a minute you know and I went oh my God and then I went oh my God I watched it was like musty TV in my household so we all sat around the TV to watch that's my mama I was like 10 years old nine years old you know when this series started it was a big huge huge show it was huge it was a big deal you know and and that's what we did and I have a friend her name was also Lisa and she said don't you remember when we were little I used to say that lady on TV looks just like you and I said you probably probably did and I was like okay whatever you know and you know because who knows like you both were living just a few miles apart um in L.A so you decided to meet up the very next day the very next day and you bought a birthday card so you know I thought no one's ever called her mom right it was it was it was foreign to her so I said let me go stop and get a card of some sort so this was in June so Mother's Day was gone and so I thought I'll just I'll find her a birthday card that said happy birthday mom because she had never had that before it was the first day that we met it's kind of like a milestone for us so I I bought her and that's the card this is the card it says mom it was the very first time that it was directed at me I never thought I would be part of the conversation when people would talk about their kids or their grandkids and so at my stage of life when I never got married I never had any other kids I thought my god look what God did for me and when my brother called and said that a woman has contacted him and her name is Lisa and she thinks I'm her uncle immediately I something happened to me a primal sound came out of me it was like I was in labor all over again it was like I was delivering all over again I fell on the ground I was in a fetal position and I was just screaming at the top of my lungs it was fetal I didn't I wasn't in control my sister didn't know what to do with me she because I was uncontrollable all of that all that all of that 50 years was coming out up going back to the fact that your face was covered and you couldn't see her and then you see her yes what was that like for you to see those eyes listen this has been the most healing of process for me because all of these years of guilt even like I said when good things would happen there was still that hole that unhappined is that deep but knowing that I'm a mom somewhere yeah so when I see her I know I did the right thing it took all this time for you to know I did the right thing I was 18 her family that adopted her they were in their 30s they really wanted a baby I knew that so I knew then you know she she had a great life and I didn't have to feel so terrible so guilty for all these years and you're a grand mom now look at her she's beautiful and you're a grand mom too and I'm a grandma I mean just when I thought life couldn't get any better she goes and blesses me with a grandson this is his car foreign for a long time I never called him by his name it was only grandson she just sounds grandson because I wouldn't call him name just just grandson just my daughter just God is good every day [Applause]

Channel: Tamron Hall Show

Views: 4,741,421

Keywords: Tamron Hall, Tamron Hall Show, Tamron, daytime television, interviews, celebrity, celeb, celebrity interviews, tv, abc, Disney, adoption, adopt, birth mother, lynne moody, that's my mama

Id: b_RU9zthThc

Length: 12min 17sec (737 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 03 2021