On Monday, actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth shared a celebratory post on Instagram marking the day her parents adopted her — her “gotcha day.”
“Y’all might already know… but in my family we celebrated two birthdays,” wrote Chenoweth. “My true birthday (the 24th) and then my GOTCHA DAY! Which is today… the 29th. It’s the day my parents adopted me. The day I became a Chenoweth.”
She added, “Gotcha days aren’t only for dogs, people!!! I’m forever grateful to my parents for bringing me into their home 56 years ago today. This life they’ve blessed me with is one I do not take for granted. I love you, mom and dad!!”
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Chenoweth was adopted just days after she was born, which is how adoption at birth typically works when the birth mother chooses during pregnancy to place her baby for adoption. Women who choose adoption for their preborn children are able to handpick the parents who will raise their children, and more often than ever, those adoptions can be ‘open’ — which means the birth mothers or birth parents can keep in touch with their children.
The actress was able to meet and get to know her own birth mother more than a decade ago. “Mamalynn” was a musician herself and had a run as the bassist for ZZ Top. Chenoweth shared that her birth mother asked her to forgive her. “Forgive you? You gave me life,” Chenoweth responded. “My parents Junie and Jared gave me life, the chance at a life. But you gave me life.”
In August 2023, Chenoweth penned a tribute to her birth mother, who had passed away, thanking her for “loving me enough to make a huge sacrifice.”
“The angel that brought me into this world has passed,” wrote Chenoweth at the time. “Her name is Lynn. Aka Mamalynn. The ten plus years I knew her were magic. So many things became clear to me about myself when I met her and came to really know her. Those of us who knew her loved her light. Her love of music and all things artistic. An artist herself! The mother of beautiful Jennifer and darling Chris. Man she loved her kids! In her belly, I became fans of Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall, Jimi Hendrix, and, of course, Billy Ethridge – my bio dad. The two of them gave me the innate artistic ability I have today.”
Chenoweth once said that “being adopted was one of the best things to ever happen to me.” She explained, “It was never something that was hidden from me and it is not something I have ever been ashamed of. I recognize how fortunate I am to have parents who love and support me unconditionally. The fact that they are not my biological parents does not change the fact that they are simply, my parents.”
