Top 5 Adopted Celebrities

5. Faith Hill

This country music superstar was born in Mississippi in 1967. She was adopted by a devout Christian couple, who raised her alongside their two biological children (both sons). From an early age, Faith’s singing talent was obvious to those around her, and she began performing in churches and at local rodeos. Faith struggled to get noticed in the competitive music business, and eventually she had her lucky break. She was singing backup for Gary Burr, at the Blackbird Café in Nashville, when a record company executive in the audience saw something special in the beautiful, talented young woman. This Warner Bros. VIP was the driving force behind Hill’s first contract with his company. Her debut album, Take Me As I Am, was released in 1993. After her first marriage to Dan Hill ended in 1994, she went on to meet country artist Tim McGraw. They have been married since 1996.
4. Richard Burton


This brilliant actor, with his glorious speaking voice and ravaged beauty, lived from 1925 to 1984. He was born in Pontrhydyfen, a small town in Wales. Richard’s father was a coal miner and an alcoholic. His mother died after given birth to her last child. She bore 13 children and Richard Walter Jenkins was the birth name of her twelfth child.
Richard went to live with his sister Cecilia after his mother’s death. Cecelia was an angel in Richard’s life, caring for him and supporting him, even when he tried her patience with his wildness and bad behavior. Burton’s father would weave in and out of his children’s lives, but Cecelia was always there for Richard and his siblings.
A schoolteacher, Philip Burton, discovered Richard’s considerable gift for acting during the boy’ performances in school plays. Richard also had a beautiful, rich singing voice. Eventually, Philip adopted Richard as his ward and helped propel him toward a life in theatre in film. Richard went on to play lauded roles in Shakespearean dramas, and to multiple marriages. He left his first wife, Sybil, when Elizabeth Taylor entered his life. Their forbidden passion ignited tremendous scandal and moral outrage during the Sixties.
3. Edgar Allan Poe

This poet, writer and critic, who specialized in a dark and macabre style, lost his parents when he was very young. Frances and John Allan then cared for him, but they did not legally adopt him. Nonetheless, they raised him to adulthood. Only after Poe completed a University degree did he decide to sever relations with the Allans.
Poe married his cousin, Virginia, in 1836, but tragedy lay ahead for the gifted writer and his love. Virginia soon lay desperately ill with incurable tuberculosis. The sense of menace and quiet, grim beauty he captured in his famous poem, The Raven, was a testament to his love for her, and the depths of his sorrow over her impending death. Virginia died two years after his poem was published.
2. John Lennon

John Lennon came from a turbulent background. His mother, Julia (known as Judy), was abandoned by her husband, Alf, after John’s birth in October of 1940. John’s father went AWOL while stationed on board a navy ship. He did not reappear to help the young mother cope with the responsibilities of new parenthood. John’s maternal aunt, Mimi, helped Julia in many ways, by helping her care for John, and by offering her a place to stay. In time, Julia began to look for a life outside the confines of the home, and she soon began to drink and party at local pubs. In time, she was in no condition to care for John, and Mimi began to look after him all of the time. Mimi was solidly middle-class, and she was very willing to make the future singer a part of her family (as parental guardian). John Lennon later admitted that life with Mimi Smith and her husband, George Smith, was cushier and more upscale than the other Beatle’s upbringings. He also admitted that his “Liverpudlian” accent was exaggerated because the public enjoyed the band’s working-class image.
1. Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was born in 1918, in the city of Transkei, South Africa. When Mandela was just a child, he lost his father to tuberculosis. In order to respect a debt that lay between Nelson’s father and himself, a Thembu king, Jongintaba, informally adopted the nine-year old boy. The Thembu Regent oversaw the interests of the Madiba clan. Nelson’s mother remained alive and well throughout his adoption, living in the village of Qunu, in a cluster of huts, and tending her fields as was customary. Nelson Mandela’s anti-apartheid activities began when he aligned himself with the African National Congress in the 1950’s. This political party was devoted to racial equality that was long overdue in the South Africa. Nelson was arrested for his anti-government activities more than once, and, being a lawyer himself, he pleaded that armed resistance was the only way forward, away from apartheid. Nonetheless, he was imprisoned for 27 years for his “acts of sabotage”. He was released in 1990 and went on to become the first president of South Africa to be elected in a democratic vote.
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