Expanding their families. Thomas Rhett, Lauren Akins and more celebrity parents have opened up about their adoption experiences.
The country singer and his childhood sweetheart adopted daughter Willa from Uganda in May 2017, just three months before Akins gave birth to daughter Ada. Lennon joined their family in February 2020.
“My heart has always been driven to that,” the Live in Love author exclusively told Us Weekly of adopting her eldest in January 2018. “It just started as this calling in my life, to speak for these children who don’t have a voice. This is what I was really here to do. It lined up perfectly with my heart. I had always wanted to adopt. My mom is actually adopted. I am a product of an adopted family. So, it has always been something that has been very natural for me.”
The former nurse was “drawn” to Willa when they first met, she added at the time. “I just tell everyone she was always my baby. It just took us a little bit longer to find each other. I called Thomas one of the first nights I met her in Uganda and told him about her. Without hesitation he said, ‘Bring her home. She is ours. We are going to make this happen.’”
Rhett is a big fan of being a girl dad and exclusively told Us in October 2019 that he was “born for” the role. “I love it,” the Grammy nominee gushed. “I love doing their hair, and I love playing the Barbies with them, whatever they want me to do, tea parties. It’s just been awesome to get to be a dad of two beautiful girls and a third one on the way.”
As for Sia, the “Elastic Heart” singer revealed in May 2020 that she had adopted two teenage boys the year prior.
“They were both 18, and they’re both 19 years old now,” the Aussie said during an episode of SiriusXM’s The Morning Mash Up. “They’re both doing things that are really good for them right now, that are really helpful. They’re really doing a lot of educational stuff that’s good for them.”
The new mom added that her sons were “aging out of the foster care system” when they met and she “love[s] them.”
Keep scrolling to see more celebrity parents who have detailed their decisions to adopt over the years, from Real Housewives of Dallas’ Brandi Redmond to Today’s Hoda Kotb.