Lisa Wright always knew she was adopted, but never thought of conducting a search for her biological mother.
She knew that her mother gave birth to her at 18. Wright shared, “My (adoptive) mom told me, ‘Your mommy loved you, but she was really young, and she knew she couldn’t take care of you. I wanted the baby so bad, and that’s why your mom let me take care of you. You weren’t abandoned. This was just the best thing for you.'”
Wright had a closed adoption, so records were sealed, and information was scarce. Her birth parents and adoptive family did not know each other.
Courtesy of Lisa Wright
The search for her biological mother only started when Wright was older and had a child of her own. When she was 54, her son suggested that she take a DNA test to determine her genetic heritage.
She received a family match when she got the results of her DNA test. She recalled receiving an alert and message about an uncle.
She reached out and sent a message, saying that she would love to chat and see where this search would lead to.
A few days later, Wright received a call that would change her life. She and her uncle spoke on the phone, and the conversation went better than expected.
Wright led a happy life with her adoptive family, which was probably why she wasn’t interested in a search for her biological mother in the first place.
But this effort to connect with her family was off to a good start. She said, “My heart’s turning flips, and he goes, ‘Tell me about yourself.’ So I said, ‘Well, I was born on Dec. 10, 1964. I was told that my biological mom was very young when she had me. She moved to L.A. because she wanted to be in Hollywood.’”
Her uncle then stopped the conversation. Wright thought that at this point, the man at the other end of the line would tell her to never to call again. But then he declared that she was his niece, and that they had been looking for her for a long time.
Wright may not have searched for her biological mother until recently, but it seems like her family had never stopped looking for her. Her uncle added that her birth mother lived in Los Angeles, where Wright lived as well.
After knowing her name, Wright searched for and found a photo of her birth mother online. Seeing her mother’s image, she finally saw someone, other than her son, who also looked like her.
“I just could not believe it, for the first time ever, other than looking at my son, for the first time I’m looking at somebody who looks like me,” Lisa excitedly said.
Soon after, her phone rang again. “A voice on the other end says, ‘Is this my daughter?’ And then I just went, ‘Oh, my God, is this my mother?’” Wright said. “And then she goes, ‘Yes, sweetie, this is your mom.’ It was just the most indescribable feeling.”
The search for her biological mother had come to a happy conclusion. Wright and her mother, actor Lynne Moody, immediately made plans to meet the next day. Moody never had any other children and had always dreamed of reuniting with her daughter.
She never expected it to happen though, and she also never even had the chance to meet her daughter’s adoptive parents as they had already passed away.
Moody had been waiting for 50 years for this reunion to happen. She shared, “When she was born, they covered my face, my eyes, so that I couldn’t see her. But I could hear her cry. All I could say was ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, baby, I’m sorry.’ As a mother, you never, ever, ever forget. During those 50 years, all I did was try to learn how to live with it. I didn’t know if she was hungry, if she was alive, if she was happy, if she was adopted.”
Deep-seated feelings just poured out in the emotional connection between Wright and Moody, which also meant sorting out a lot of pain.
Moody recalled the experience of finding out about her daughter as a very physical reaction. To her it was like giving birth because she lost feeling in her legs, and wound upon the floor in a fetal position, screaming and crying.
Interestingly enough, Wright may not have been with her birth mother growing up, but she actually saw her all the time. Moody starred on “That’s My Mama,” which ran on ABC in the mid-1970s, and was one Wright’s favorite TV shows from childhood.
She grew up watching a TV show not knowing that her birth mother was in it. She watched the show every week and literally, the woman on the show was her mama.
This Mother’s Day, Moody hopes that her family’s story inspires others. Life is full of surprises and no matter what the circumstances are, it is important to remain hopeful.
Wright’s search for her biological mother may have happened late in life, but it brought her back to a mother who had been searching for her for decades. As Moody said, “Be open to miracles, be open to surprises, and keep the faith.”
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