Country Star Rodney Atkins Reunites with Birth Mother
It's interesting how fame can unearth long lost relatives. For country star Rodney Atkins faring with fame has become a bit of an overwhelming escapade once the public learned he was adopted as an infant and unaware of the identity of his birth family.
Atkins recently released his fourth album, Take a Back Road, and was made the spokesman for the National Council for Adoption in 2008. Once the general public became aware of his adoption story, masses of fans would invade his stage bringing him bags of hair for DNA testing. It became difficult for Atkins to determine who his relatives really were since he never knew anyone in his birth family.
In a recent interview, Atkins revealed the story of how he finally met his birth mother.
Atkins felt he needed the closure and eventually he went through the right agencies to find her. “I needed to close that door,” he said.
A slew of emotions hit Atkins the moment he saw his mother. “I realized that the reason I needed to do that did not have anything to do with my parents,” he said. “I’m glad I did that really, really, really for her. She’s been carrying that around, wondering what happened, and I could tell it was such a relief.”
Atkins was finally told the story of what had happened to him when he was born. His birth mother got pregnant at 19 after a first date that was described only as traumatic and left at that. Out of fear and shame, she never told her parents and gave him up for adoption instead of getting an abortion. When Atkins found out that she chose to give him up rather than get an abortion, he was grateful to her. “I just wanted to tell her thank you, because she had some other alternatives to end that situation,” said Atkins. “I might not be here. So you don’t want to take it for granted.” The mother kept saying “I’m sorry” and Atkins continued to reply, “Thank You”.
She eventually re-married and had another son. This son spoke with Atkins and revealed that during the spring of every year, his mother’s mood would instantly change. He now knows that the mood change was due to Atkins’ March birthday.
Allen and Margaret, Atkins’ adoptive parents, are in complete support of the reunion. They even decided to meet Atkins’ birth mother and son and shared some precious memories with them. They assembled some picture of Atkins throughout his life to let her see what he looked like growing up and how well he fared.
In his new album, Atkins reveals what his upbringing was like. The title track hit #1 on the country charts for several weeks. He also sings about his 10-year-old son Elijah and how he hopes to pass on his hard-working family ethics to him. In his song, Lifelines, he sings about all of the people who have helped him become the man he is today. “If I spent the rest of my life getting even with the people that had helped me out, I would never settle the score,” said Atkins
Now, he can add his birth mother to that list of people who positively affected his life. He realizes how much courage it must have taken her to face the reality of the situation and live life with this secret. Thankfully, she was able to introduce Atkins to his grandmother right before she passed away. “She had to tell her after all these years, ‘You have another grandson that I never told you about.’ I can’t imagine what she’s been carrying,” he said.
Months after the heartfelt reunion, Atkins received a package on his birthday from his birth mother. After learning that as a child he idolized the Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, she put together a package containing Garvey’s MVP card, a Dodgers jersey and a baseball all autographed by Garvey himself.
Atkins was surprised and stunned and thanked her over and over for her generous and heartfelt gift.
Atkins said, “She told me, ‘You have to understand, Rodney, to me this is your first birthday.’”