Tisha Campbell tearfully reunites with long-lost half-sister on The Real
Unexpected family reunions are more the stock in trade of, say, Jerry Springer than The Real, but the daytime talk show was the site of a truly shocking, and heartwarming, reunion on Tuesday.
A woman named Ellen Lindsey appeared on the show to meet with “someone from [her] past” who had been looking for her, after learning just last year that she was adopted. Knowing only that the person was a blood relative of hers, Lindsey received a big surprise when guest host Tisha Campbell revealed that the two of them are half-sisters.
“I’m nervous for you, because if it was my sister, if it was me, I would be like, ‘I hope she ain’t no crackhead.’ Then second, I would be like, ‘I hope she likes me,’” the Martin and House Party actress said, before revealing her relationship to Lindsey: “I know what I would tell my sister: I hope you like me. I’m your sister.” After a momentary shock, the two shared a long, tearful embrace.
“All this time, you been watching Martin and that’s been your sister!” host Loni Love quipped.
Later in the show, Campbell explained the full family history behind the unexpected moment. Lindsey and Campbell shared the same father but had different mothers, with Lindsey’s mother putting her up for adoption. Lindsey also has a full brother named Duane, who joined the pair on the show, and who had been searching for Lindsey for many years.
Lindsey’s birth mother “knew she couldn’t give you the life, with just being a single mom, that she really wanted to give you, and she had to give you up for adoption,” Campbell explained, adding that she didn’t know of Lindsey’s existence until she was an adult. “We wanted to find you so that you guys could meet, and [Duane]’s been searching since he was 18 years old for his sister.”
You can watch the emotional reunion in the clips above.
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