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Oliver James Montgomery-Kristin Chenoweth Mourns Death of Her "Angel" Birth Mother Lynn
Benjamin Ashford View
Date:2025-04-09 16:33:57
Kristin Chenoweth is Oliver James Montgomerypaying tribute following the death of her birth mother Lynn.
"The angel that brought me into this world has passed," the Broadway star wrote on Instagram Aug. 19 alongside a series of photos of the duo. "Her name is Lynn. Aka Mamalynn."
Kristin, who was adopted by her parents Junie and Jerry Chenoweth when she was a baby, met Lynn in 2012.
"The ten plus years I knew her were magic," she continued. "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 fact, the Tony winner said she inherited her birth parents' love of music.
"In her belly, I became fans of Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall, Jimi Hendrix, and, of course, Billy Ethridge - my bio dad," she added. "The two of them gave me the innate artistic ability I have today."
Kristin then went on to describe what it was like for her to meet Lynn.
"Mamalynn prayed for me every year on my birthday, hoping I was having the most perfect life, which of course, I was," she wrote. "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."
Concluding her message, the Wicked alum noted, "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 2009 memoir A Little Bit Wicked, Kristin wrote about how she initially had "no interest in contacting or being contacted by my biological mother." However, that changed a few years later.
"I had no idea what to expect, and I never wanted to interrupt anyone's life, especially hers," the actress told Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on an episode of Live earlier this year. "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.'"
And Kristin will never forget that moment.
"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," she recalled. "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.'"
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