Current:Home > FinanceKristin Chenoweth Mourns Death of Her "Angel" Birth Mother Lynn -FundSphere
Kristin Chenoweth Mourns Death of Her "Angel" Birth Mother Lynn
View
Date:2025-04-18 10:36:22
Kristin Chenoweth is paying tribute following the death of her birth mother Lynn.
"The angel that brought me into this world has passed," the Broadway star wrote on Instagram Aug. 19 alongside a series of photos of the duo. "Her name is Lynn. Aka Mamalynn."
Kristin, who was adopted by her parents Junie and Jerry Chenoweth when she was a baby, met Lynn in 2012.
"The ten plus years I knew her were magic," she continued. "So many things became clear to me about myself when I met her and came to really know her. Those of us who knew her loved her light. Her love of music and all things artistic. An artist herself! The mother of beautiful Jennifer and darling Chris. Man she loved her kids!"
In fact, the Tony winner said she inherited her birth parents' love of music.
"In her belly, I became fans of Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall, Jimi Hendrix, and, of course, Billy Ethridge - my bio dad," she added. "The two of them gave me the innate artistic ability I have today."
Kristin then went on to describe what it was like for her to meet Lynn.
"Mamalynn prayed for me every year on my birthday, hoping I was having the most perfect life, which of course, I was," she wrote. "I snuck away and prayed for her too, wishing that someday I would be allowed tell her ‘thank you.' Which I did on 12/12/12. A beautiful day! We didn't leave anything unsaid in the end."
Concluding her message, the Wicked alum noted, "I will miss her till the end of my days. But then, I will fly into the sky, where she will be waiting to greet me, and she will say, ‘start singing Babygirl! And I will. RIP Mamalynn."
In her 2009 memoir A Little Bit Wicked, Kristin wrote about how she initially had "no interest in contacting or being contacted by my biological mother." However, that changed a few years later.
"I had no idea what to expect, and I never wanted to interrupt anyone's life, especially hers," the actress told Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on an episode of Live earlier this year. "But I'd had a bad accident, and I had some time to really heal and think. Troy Dunn had started the ball rolling before. He's a man called The Locator. And he'd already started it because Oprah [Winfrey] had read my memoir, and in it I have a chapter of thanking my birth mom and thanking the one that raised me. And he said, 'I think it's time you meet her because you rejected it before.'"
And Kristin will never forget that moment.
"I met her, and I walked in the room, and she went, 'It's you?' And I said, 'Hi.' And just like looking in a mirror," she recalled. "And also she said, 'I hope you can forgive me.' And I said, 'You gave me life. You gave me life, and Junie Chenoweth, my mom, gave me a life. I have nothing but gratitude and love to you.'"
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (65)
Related
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Arkansas ends fiscal year with $698 million surplus, finance office says
- Two 13-year-olds killed, 12-year-old injured in Atlanta shooting
- Rep. Lloyd Doggett becomes first Democrat in Congress to call for Biden’s withdrawal from 2024 race
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- How a ‘once in a century’ broadband investment plan could go wrong
- Most deserving MLB All-Star starters become clear with full season's worth of stats
- US deports 116 Chinese migrants in first ‘large’ flight in 5 years
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Authorities, churches identify 6 family members killed in Wisconsin house fire
Ranking
- The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
- Rep. Lloyd Doggett becomes first Democrat in Congress to call for Biden’s withdrawal from 2024 race
- Arkansas ends fiscal year with $698 million surplus, finance office says
- The UK will hold its first election in almost 5 years. Here’s what to know
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- What was the ‘first American novel’? On this Independence Day, a look at what it started
- Judge’s order greatly expands where Biden can’t enforce a new rule protecting LGBTQ+ students
- Where Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky Stand One Year After Their Breakup
Recommendation
Federal Spending Freeze Could Have Widespread Impact on Environment, Emergency Management
How obscure 'Over 38 Rule' rule can impact LeBron James signing longer deal with Lakers
Biden to bestow Medal of Honor on two Civil War heroes who helped hijack a train in confederacy
Love and Marriage: Huntsville Star KeKe Jabbar Dead at 42
Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
Tucson man gets 16-month prison term for threatening a mass shooting at the University of Arizona
1 man hurt when home in rural Wisconsin explodes, authorities say
Rep. Lloyd Doggett becomes first Democrat in Congress to call for Biden’s withdrawal from 2024 race