From Jamie Foxx To The Late Gary Coleman: Here Are 5 Celebs You Didn’t Know Were Adopted

November is National Adoption Month, and The Shade Room is highlighting five celebrities you probably didn’t know were adopted. Check them and their stories out below.

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Jamie Foxx

In 2021, Jamie Foxx published his parenting memoir, ‘Act Like You Got Some Sense: And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me.’ In the novel, the actor shared that he was adopted by his “grandparents,” Mark and Estelle Marie Talley. Foxx’s mother, Louise Annette Talley Dixon, was reportedly “not ready for the responsibility of parenting,” per USA Today.

Additionally, the grandparents Foxx referred to were the same people who adopted his biological mother, per TheThings.

“You know what’s amazing? I was adopted at seven months, and I’m going to tell you what that means. My grandmother? That’s not actually my biological grandmother,” Foxx explained during a 2017 episode of ‘Beat Shazam.’ “That’s somebody who said, ‘I see something in that little boy that’s very special,’ and she made sure I had every tool that I needed to grow and expand…”

Furthermore, in the memoir, Foxx reportedly shared how the absence of his mother and father, Darrell Bishop, affected him.

“This should be a relationship that we should have. Why is it not happening? I’m actually doing good. I’m not on drugs. I’m a good guy… I mean, come on!” Foxx reportedly recalled, per recalls USA Today. “But for that connection not to happen, that affected me.”

However, the “In Living Color” actor did not let the tribulation deter him from personal success.

“You can do two things. You can let it cave you in, when things didn’t go right as a kid. Or you can say, ‘Oh, when I get my shot, I’m gonna make sure I do this,'” Foxx explained, per USA Today. “When I got my shot to raise my kids, those things that I felt like my biological parents didn’t do necessarily right, I said, ‘Oh, I know what it is now.'”

Darryl “DMC” McDaniels

According to Adoption.com, Darryl McDaniels of the iconic Hip Hop group Run DMC learned that he was adopted at the age of 35. McDaniels was raised in Hollis, Queens, in New York City. The outlet notes that as McDaniels grew, he was often teased for “not looking like his folks.” However, he often dismissed this sentiment.

“Because I had the best parents ever, all of those thoughts of ‘something ain’t right here’ would immediately go out the door — immediately,” McDaniels told HuffPost in 2017.

In his mid-thirties, the rapper sat down to begin writing his autobiography. But when we called his mother to gather “basic birth stats,” she informed the rapper that he was adopted and brought home by his parents at just “a month old.”

According to a 2020 interview with Essence, McDaniels was then placed into the foster care system.

“I was in foster care until I was five years old,” the rapper told the outlet. “I was one of the last foster kids in my parents’ home… so instead of sending me back, they kept me! It saved my life!”

With this new information, McDaniels immediately searched for his biological family and was successful in locating them. Since then, McDaniels has used his story to inspire others.

“What keeps me grounded is my truth. Whether I like it or not, it is part of me… and I can use my story not only to make my life better, but I can help so many other people who are in the same situation as me to understand their lives better,” McDaniel told HuffPost.