Kristin Chenoweth Mourns Death Of Birth Mother

Kristin Chenoweth has paid tribute to her birth mother Lynn following her recent death. 

"The angel that brought me into this world has passed. Her name is Lynn. Aka Mamalynn."

Kristin was adopted by Junie and Jerry Chenoweth when she was a baby, and met her birth mother Lynn in 2012.

"The ten plus years I knew her were magic. 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 her belly, I became fans of Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall, Jimi Hendrix, and, of course, Billy Ethridge - my bio dad. The two of them gave me the innate artistic ability I have today."

"Mamalynn prayed for me every year on my birthday, hoping I was having the most perfect life, which of course, I was. 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."

"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 memoir, 'A Little Bit Wicked' released in 2009, she wrote about how she initially had "no interest in contacting or being contacted by my biological mother."

"I had no idea what to expect, and I never wanted to interrupt anyone's life, especially hers. 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.'"

"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. 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.'"