Can you imagine as a kid tuning in to see your favorite TV show, never realizing that the actress playing one of the leading roles was your mother? It sounds like something from a sitcom script, but that’s what happened to Lisa Wright.
The show Wright was watching? That’s My Mama. (We doubt even Hollywood could make that one up!)
As with many adoptions at the time, Wright’s birth records were sealed. Having been well-loved by her adoptive parents, she didn’t have a burning desire to search out her biological mother.
All that changed when, at age 54, Wright’s son suggested she get a DNA test to learn more about her family’s genetics. The DNA results revealed Wright had a match—an uncle.
In their initial conversation, Wright’s uncle asked her to fill him in on any details she knew about her birth. She was able to tell him her date of birth and that her mom, who’d gotten pregnant when she was very young, wanted a career in Hollywood.
Her uncle knew a lot more—and he was thrilled to tell her.
Wright’s mom turned out to be Lynne Moody, whose impressive résumé includes stints on Chicago Hope, Beverly Hills 90210, Knots Landing, General Hospital, and a host of other TV and film credits.
Not only did her uncle reveal who Wright’s birth mother was, he also let her know her mom had never forgotten the daughter she’d given up. The family had actually been looking for her, hoping someday to reconnect.
When Wright Googled her mom’s name, the realization was stunning. She was finally seeing a face that looked like her own. She knew she belonged.
Not long after that epiphany, Wright’s phone rang again. It was an ecstatic Moody.
“A voice on the other end says, ‘Is this my daughter?’ And then I just went, ‘Oh, my God, is this my mother?’” Wright told TODAY. “And then she goes, ‘Yes, sweetie, this is your mom.’ It was just the most indescribable feeling.”
The irony of growing up watching her mom on TV and not knowing it was nothing compared to the joy the two felt when they were reunited the very next day. Moody, likened finding her daughter to giving birth a second time, at least on an emotional level.
Of course, not everyone searching out their heritage is going turn up a TV star in the family tree, but this mother-daughter team hopes their story inspires other adoptive kids and their birth parents to welcome the connection if and when it does come their way.
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“Life is full of surprises sometimes, so hang in there no matter what your circumstances are,” Moody told TODAY. “Be open to miracles, be open to surprises, and keep the faith.”
(WATCH the TODAY video about this story below.)
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I love this outcome. As a foster mother I know this type of outcome is pretty rare.