It is quite surprising to find that a number of celebrities were almost never born had it not been for a change of heart from their mother.
- Celine Dion.
Celine Dion, the bestselling Canadian recording artist of all time is the 14th child of Adhémar-Charles and Thérèse Tanguay Dion.
When her mother Thérèse was distressed at learning of her pregnancy, she went to a priest. Celine recounts: “He told her that she had no right to go against nature. So I have to admit that in a way, I owe my life to that priest.”
In the January 16, 2001 issue of Hello!, Dion said: “My mother had already brought up 13 children. For more than 20 years, she’d been locked into a hellish cycle of washing, ironing and housework, 365 days a year. She thought, rightly, that she’d done her duty. The two little ones, twins Paul and Pauline, were about to go to school and at last she’d have some time to herself. At last she’d be able to go out, perhaps go travelling with my father and revisit the area where they were both brought up. Then suddenly she was pregnant again. She was so shattered she went to see the parish priest to see if she could do something about it. “Once she got over her disappointment that an abortion was out of the question,” added Dion, “she loved me as passionately as she’d loved the last little ones.” That love for children and family was passed on to Celine as can be seen in her care and concern for her children.
“My success is my family,” she told People magazine in 2012. “My life is to be a mom. It is what I enjoy the most. It is my most amazing reward. I will take a chance with my music. I don’t take risks with my family.”
2. Jack Nicholson
Born on April 22, 1937, his mother was all of 17 years old. Named June Frances Nicholson, she was a showgirl dancer. Nicholson in turn was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Nicholson and Ethel May. He only learned in 1974 after his birth mother was dying of cancer that he found out who she was, raised to believe that she was in fact his sister. Nicholson described his mother and the life she had lived and also talked about abortion, saying, “I’m very contra my constituency in terms of abortion because I’m positively against it. I don’t have the right to any other view. “My only emotion is gratitude, literally, for my life,” said Nicholson. “It’s a feminist narrative in the very pure form,” Nicholson said. “They trained me great, those ladies. I still, to this day, have never borrowed a nickel from anybody and never felt like I couldn’t take care of myself. They made the imperative of my self-sufficiency obvious.”
Describing his mother in the interview, Nicholson said, “June and I had so much in common. We both fight hard. It didn’t do her any good not to tell me, but she didn’t because you never know how I would’ve reacted when I was younger.
3. Andrea Boccelli
Andrea Bocelli’s mother was advised to have an abortion after she was misdiagnosed with appendicitis while she was pregnant. In this emotional video, Andrea Boccelli recounts what happened:
4. Justin Bieber.
A victim of childhood sexual abuse, Justin Bieber’s mother engaged in drinking, drugs and sex at a young age, ultimately finding herself pregnant at the age of seventeen. Even though she was encouraged to abort, she told Kathie Lee, “I just knew I couldn’t. I just knew I couldn’t. I just know I had to keep him.” I didn’t know how I was going to do it. But I just knew that I couldn’t abort. I had to do my best, and I was determined to do whatever it took.
5. Steve Jobs.
An interview with Steve Jobs for his biography reveals that Steve was almost a victim of an abortion. He states “I wanted to meet her mostly to see if she was OK and to thank her, because I’m glad I didn’t end up as an abortion. She was 23 and she went through a lot to have me”. When he finally met birth mother Joanne Schieble, she burst into tears as she apologized for placing him for adoption. “Don’t worry,” Jobs responded. “I had a great childhood. I turned out OK.”
ABC News provides more background on Jobs’ search for his family: In the early 1980s, Jobs had hired a detective to look for his birth mother, but found nothing. Until then, he had been hesitant to tell his parents about the search, afraid he would hurt their feelings. But when Clara Jobs died in 1986, he told his adoptive father, Paul Jobs, and began a search in earnest. Jobs eventually arranged a reunion, hoping to tell his mother she had “done the right thing.” Jobs said he was surprised at how much he and Simpson were alike. “As we got to know each other, we became really good friends and she was my family,” he said. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
