HERE'S JOHNNY! JACK NICHOLSON IS ADOPTED

As promised, I'm spotlighting well-known individuals who were adopted!

Halloween is a week and one day away and I can't celebrate the month of October without watching some good old-fashioned horror flicks. Devil-themed ones give me the straight-up heebie jeebies, The Shining is no exception. Right now you probably have this image of and line by Jack Nicholson in your head:

Ah, reminds me of my Dad and our relationship, but I digress.

You are also probably thinking what does this have to do with adoption? Well, hold your horses. I'm getting to that. Did you know Jack Nicholson is an adoptee? His adoption story has more twists than The Departed.

According to Biography, Nicholson was born in Neptune, New Jersey, on April 22, 1937 to John and Ethel May Nicholson. John dressed department store windows and Ethel styled hair. His older sister June was an aspiring actress. Turns out the whole family were skilled actors...because 37 years later a TIME magazine reporter, researching a cover story on Nicholson, called him with startling news: his sister Ethel wasn't his sister, she was his mother. The people he thought were his parents were his grandparents. His father was an ex-boyfriend of June's. 

 June Nicholson

Maybe he channeled his feelings from the day of the phone call and used them for the courtroom scene in A Few Good Men.

Could you handle the truth? Whoa.

Unfortunately, he couldn't get any answers from June because she died of cancer over a decade earlier. According to Snopes, even on their deathbeds, neither June nor Ethel May had offered up the truth.

"I'd say it was a pretty dramatic event, but it wasn't what I'd call traumatizing," Nicholson said       about discovering his family's secret. "After all, by the time I found out who my mother was, I was pretty well psychologically formed. As a matter of fact, it made quite a few things clearer to me. If anything, I felt grateful."

 It's no surprise he made this statement in 2013 about his stance on abortion.

What would the last few decades of American films be like without Jack Nicholson? I'm grateful he's here, entertaining me with his movies and talent, and I'm grateful his mother gave him a chance at life. 

#ShoutYourAdoption 

Much Love ~ The Adopted Goddess 

#ShoutYourAdoption

Last month, on September 19, in reaction to Congress' vote to defund Planned Parenthood, Seattle-based activist Amelia Bonow decided to share her abortion experience at Planned Parenthood with the world. She finished her post with the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion. It wasn't long before others took to social media, like Twitter, to share their abortion story and their support for Planned Parenthood and a woman's right to choose. 

It's eye-opening to read first hand accounts and their reasoning. First, let me make it clear - I'm in no place to stand on a pedestal, waving a finger, and shaking my head at their decision. I'm not God, and it's not my place to judge or shame. Why? However, I can shine the light on the other choice: adoption. 

During high school, my birthmother had a decision to make when she became pregnant: abortion or adoption. She told me a friend talked to her about a doctor who could make the problem disappear. Other girls visited him, she should too.  

She wasn't a girl who slept around; her nickname at school was "the nun" because she punched guys out if they talked to her inappropriately or made a pass. She had a long-term boyfriend who lived a block away; they grew-up together. When things started to get hot and heavy, she  asked her mom about birth control. They couldn't let her father know she was becoming sexually active. She went to the doctor and had birth control prescribed for acne.  Her father was none the wiser until she discovered she was pregnant. But How? No one bothered to explain birth control pills didn't work after one pill, it took a month of pills to prevent pregnancy. She had sex for the first time before taking the whole pill pack. Oops. 

Her father was a devout Catholic, the captain of the town's fire department, and having a pregnant teen was an embarrassment. She couldn't fathom having an abortion. It wasn't right for her. It wasn't easy to choose adoption either. Her father took her out of school and threatened to send her away. Her mom intervened and she went to night school instead. People treated her like a pariah. Not everyone, but even one person doing so was one too many. 

Looking back, knowing I was the baby growing inside her, it makes me realize how much shit she went through to give me life and then give me away. She literally went home empty-handed. For three decades she had no idea where I lived, if my parents loved me, if I was happy, lonely or sad. Talk about a monumental sacrifice! Once we reunited she told me the not knowing was the worst and to see me in a happy marriage, with two daughters of my own, an education, now living a good life was worth the pain. Wow. That's a selfless act. 

If #ShoutYourAbortion is a a trend, I think #ShoutYourAdoption should be one too. No matter what a woman decides, no one should cast stones. The answer is always forgiveness, love and empathy. 

Every week I'm going to feature a well known person who was either an adoptee or adopted a child as example of how cool it is to #ShoutYourAdoption

 Stay tuned!

 Love, The Adopted Goddess