For Kristin Chenoweth, the movie “Lion” hit very close to home.
The actress and singer penned an essay for Huffington Post about the film’s significance and how it “stands up” to some “misperceptions” about adoption.
“It’s hardly a secret that I was adopted as a baby, and quite frankly, there’s absolutely no reason it should be,” Chenoweth writes. “As I’ve grown, I’ve watched the conversation and perceptions about adopted kids and families shift, but nothing has quite captured the truth, both the good and the ugly, of adoption like the film ‘Lion.'”
“Lion” is the true story of Saroo Brierley, played at various ages by Sunny Pawar and Dev Patel, who gets lost in India at age 5. He eventually gets adopted by an Australian couple, played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham. As Brierley grows up, he can’t shake his early childhood memories of living in India with his birth family. He embarks on a mission, aided by Google Earth, to find his way home.
“It’s an honest look at adoption and the not uncommon feelings surrounding identity that come up for many people,” Chenoweth continues. “On the one hand, you share the unconditional love for your parents that they have for you, not to mention eternal gratitude for the life they’ve given you. But as Saroo shows, there’s often a lingering thought about where you came from.
“We all yearn for our truth; who we are, where we come from, maybe where we get certain quirks or talents (for me I long wondered where my voice came from since my mother very well knows it was not from her).”
Despite her lingering questions, Chenoweth writes, “Being adopted was one of the best things to ever happen to me.”
“Not everyone can say that, but I count myself lucky to have a birth mother who loved me enough to know she wasn’t ready to be a mom,” she writes. “I’m lucky that I have wonderful parents who chose me. I often say adoption is a full-circle blessing and I truly believe it. Adopted children were not abandoned, we were chosen. That is one of the core messages of ‘Lion,’ serving as a beautiful reminder that love knows no boundaries.”