Connie Britton ‘Always Assumed’ She’d Have a Child With a Man — ‘What Am I Waiting For?’
When single mom and The White Lotus actor Connie Britton used to think about having children, she “always assumed [she’d] be doing it with a man” with whom she was in a relationship. But she changed her mind about becoming a parent without a partner after her family was “no more.” And after experiencing a “big loss,” she wondered, “What am I waiting for?”
Connie Britton chose to be a single parent after both her parents died
Britton told Redbook in 2012, “I always knew I wanted a child, and I always assumed I’d be doing it with a man.” But time passed without finding the right partner, at least at the right time, and Britton’s parents died.
“Right after that, a lightbulb went off in my head and I thought, ‘What am I waiting for?'” the Dirty John star explained. “I wasn’t in a relationship at the time, but I thought, ‘This is something I want to do. I can do it.'”
On an episode of Watch What Happens Live, she elaborated to Andy Cohen how her parents’ deaths inspired her. “In truth, both of my parents had passed away within three years, and suddenly … I was like, ‘Oh no, my family is no more,” she shared. “I mean, I have a twin sister — but that was a big loss, losing my parents.”
After facing those deaths, she was even more resolved to have a child. “I had no idea what I was even getting into, so it wasn’t so much ‘I can do this’ as much as I knew that I wanted to be a mom,” she said.
Connie Britton adopted a child, Yoby, from Ethiopia in 2011
In 2011, after an adoption process that took three years, Britton’s dreams of becoming a parent came true when she held her nine-month-old son, Yoby. He was born in Ethiopia, and his name comes from the one given to him at birth, Eyob.
“I am thanking my lucky stars every day,” the American Horror Story star told People. She was 44 when she finally held him.
“It was such a wonderful moment of completion,” she explained. “I thought I was going to collapse into a puddle of tears. I was just grinning from ear to ear.”
Connie Britton makes time with her child that is ‘valuable and meaningful’
Yoby turned 11 in February 2022. And, as Britton shared with People in 2021, they enjoy spending time together. It may not sound like much, but it’s not a claim every parent can make.
“My morning ritual with my son is very special to me,” she said. “When I’m shooting, I try to get my call time to be after I drop Yoby at school so that I can have my time with him in the morning. It’s really meaningful and valuable to us. It’s our special time.”
He even gets up early to help her take care of their pets. “We’ve got three dogs and a cat, and now [Yoby]’s got six fish, so we get up probably around 7:00. We feed the animals. I feed him, and then I take him to [surf] camp,” the Friday Night Lights star said of their summertime agenda.
And it seems he’s a dream come true for her. In the end, she told Cohen on WWHL she would “only encourage anybody” who wanted to adopt. “You can do it!” she offered.
