Joni Mitchell climbed from destitution to riches after reaching a celebrity’s summit. Unfortunately for her, fame came a little too late. Mitchell was once so destitute that she had to place her daughter for adoption because she couldn’t afford to care for her child.
Mitchell, like her daughter Kilauren Gibb, didn’t give up looking, and after 32 years apart, they found their way back to each other.
Joni Mitchell Forsook Her Daughter
Mitchell gave birth to her daughter in 1965, an entirely different era, according to Cheatsheet. Unmarried mothers were uncommon back then. He declined to marry her when she urged her child’s father to do so.
Gibb found she was adopted when she was 27 years old, and her search for her biological parents began.
She has yet to establish herself as a musician. She lacked the financial means to raise and support her daughter. So, with a heavy heart, she gave her baby up for adoption, a decision she quickly regretted. She once told Hot Press:
“I had a house and a car soon after I’d given up my daughter for adoption, and I’d risen to prominence.”
She’d been hunting for her child for years, but the search was finally over. When a childhood friend sold her secret childbirth to the media, it sparked a lot of interest, but that was the end of it.
Kilauren Gibb’s Mother Is Missing
Gibb, on the other hand, admitted to the Toronto Sun (through Joni Mitchell’s website) that she regularly questioned her adoptive mother about why she didn’t have images from her birth.
To keep the adoption a secret, the Gibbs — two Toronto teachers named David and Ida Gibb — had to feed her with a few justifications.
When Gibb was 27 years old, she found she had been adopted, and her hunt for her biological parents began. Her adoptive parents thankfully left her with a recommendation to the Children’s Aid Society. As a result, she made contact.
However, it would take the institution five years to supply Gibb with the documentation she required, and even then, her birth mother’s identity was only a description.
Her mother, she realized, was the sole child of Norwegian-Scottish parents and was born in Saskatchewan. She had polio as a youngster and met Kilauren’s father while attending art school in Calgary.
“She is a successful Canadian folk singer, according to the CAS description.”
Gibb, on the other hand, was not a fan of the genre for which her mother was recognized and was unable to make the connection on her own.
The Meeting
She came upon an article about Mitchell’s quest for her daughter on February 1, 1996. The timeline was perfect. Gibb also observed the similarities: blue eyes, blonde hair, long legs, and prominent cheekbones.
She contacted Mitchell’s agency, hoping to see her mother before her mother’s birthday on February 19. It turned out she wasn’t the only “daughter” who had called. The agency has to review all claims.
Gibbs arrived home one day to find her mother’s message on the answering machine. “Hello, my name is Joni,” it said. Please get in touch. I’ve made it. “I’m completely overwhelmed.”
After 32 years apart, the mother-daughter duo reunited on March 13, 1997.
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