Daughter finds out TV star is her birth mother — 50 years later
"He goes, 'Lisa, you're my niece. We've been looking for you. We've all been looking for you,'" Wright recalled
After a genetic test helped Lisa Wright find her birth mother after more than 50 years, she received an incredible twist with a perfect Hollywood ending.
In an exclusive from TODAY, Wright shared that she knew she was was adopted after her birth mother gave birth to her at 18, but she said she never looked for her or her relatives.
“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 told the outlet.
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Due to her adoption records being closed, neither Wright’s adoptive family nor birth parents knew each other. Now Wright, 54, and a mother to a son of her own, said he suggested she take a DNA test to learn her genetic heritage.
Wright connected with a match who she learned was her uncle. He confirmed that her birth mother resided in Los Angeles — where Wright lives.
“He goes, ‘Lisa, you’re my niece. We’ve been looking for you. We’ve all been looking for you,'” Wright recalled.
Her birth mother, actress Lynne Moody, ultimately called her.
“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 actress never had other children and began her career in Hollywood. Moody said that she dreamed of being reunited with her child but never thought she’d find her.
“When she was born, they covered my face, my eyes, so that I couldn’t see her,” Moody told TODAY. “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.”
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Wright learned that her mother starred in one of her favorite childhood TV shows growing up called “That’s My Mama,” an ABC sitcom that aired during the mid-1970s. Moody played Tracy Curtis Taylor during its 1974-75 run and appeared in shows such as “All In The Family,” “Roots: The Next Generations,” “Magnum, P.I.,” and “Knots Landing.”
“I grew up watching my mother on TV and didn’t even know it,” Wright said. “‘That’s My Mama’ — that was our must-see TV. We all sat down and watched ‘That’s My Mama’ every week, and who knew? No idea… And that’s my mama!”
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