Celebrities Who Are Adopted: A Look at Famous Adoptees

Adoptive parents raised some of the biggest names in entertainment. Whether it was in their genes or due to nurture, these adopted celebrities have made some serious careers in music, film and business.

Like many other special interest groups do, various adoption organizations have used these big names to bring positive publicity to adoption. Some groups use the celebrity names to show children that being adopted doesn’t make them any less special, while other adoption groups take a stronger approach by using adopted celebrity names to sway those considering abortion.

Here is a look at a few famous adoptees and a brief story:

Eric Clapton
Clapton’s mother was sixteen when she gave birth; his father was a soldier. However, he was raised by his grandparents. In 1998, Clapton found his birth father’s name and was able to meet his half-brothers and sisters. However, his father passed away in 1985.

Faith Hill
Faith Hill’s full name is Audrey Faith Perry. She was adopted by Mississippi couple, Ted and Edna Perry. The couple had two sons and wanted a daughter. They later married and had a third son.

Melissa Gilbert
Glibert, who was best known for her role as Laura Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie, was born in Los Angeles and was adopted by actor Paul Gilbert and his wife Barbara Crane. Gilbert’s brother Jonathan (who also starred in Little House) is also adopted. Gilbert appeared on Oprah to discuss adoption, as well as promote a Hallmark Channel reality show she hosts, called Adoption.

John Lennon
Beatle legend Lennon was raised by his aunt Mimi and Uncle George. Lennon’s father left his mother, and his mother and step-father didn’t accept John into their new life. Lennon has a half-sister, Victoria Williams who was born to his mother and a soldier. Williams was also adopted by another family and raised in Norway. But, she did not trace her roots to find she was a Lennon until 1996.

Ray Liotta
Actor Liotta was adopted as a baby and raised in New Jersey.

Sarah McLachlan
Canadian singer McLauhlan was born in Nova Scotia. She was adopted as a baby by an American couple living in Canada, Jack and Dorice. The couple has two other adopted children.

Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jean Baker) was placed in foster care at age seven when her mother was too sick to care for her. Although was adopted by her mother’s friend, she still was in and out of orphanages until she married at age 16 to get out of the system.

Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson and his sister Bobbie were raised by their grandparents, after their birth parents divorced. It was Willie’s grandfather that started the music lessons.

Jack Nicholson
John “Jack” Joseph Nicholson’s mother was young and unmarried when she gave birth. His father had left them behind. Jack was raised by his grandparents, John and Ethel and thought his mother, June was his sister. He learned the truth when he was 37, after his mother and grandmother had passed away.

Dave Thomas
Adoptive parents of Lebanese descent raised the founder of Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers.

Sources: adoption.org, various biography sites.

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