Podcaster and comedian Joanne McNally has opened up about her experience of being adopted as a child, which was positive, though she says ‘there is a lack of context for yourself’ growing up
Joanne McNally
Known for her hilariously dry humour and quick wit, comedian Joanne McNally has tugged on the heartstrings of many as she opened up about knowing she was adopted as a child and how she dealt with it.
The host of the wildly popular ‘My Therapist Ghosted Me’ podcast candidly revealed what her life was like as an adopted child in 1980’s Ireland, and how her family always made sure she felt secure and loved.
Joanne opened up when she appeared on the most recent episode of Made In Chelsea star Jamie Laing’s podcast ‘Great Company’. Each weekly episode sees Laing speak to guests about resilience and self-improvement, with fascinating and relatable stories from people from all walks of life.
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Joanne spoke to Jamie about building her career in her thirties after realising she wasn’t doing what she wanted to in life. She opened up about her struggles with vicious eating disorders, a drastic career shift, and the identity crisis that can come with being adopted.
In the episode, Jamie points out that Joanne has a habit of brushing over big details of her life with her familiar humour, as she casually mentioned that she was adopted.
Jamie tells her: “Being adopted, that’s a huge thing!”
Joanne replies simply: “You can make it a huge thing, if you want.”
She went on to explain how as a child, being adopted was never something that was hidden from her or her brother Conor, who is also adopted.
“I think it was handled very very well, so there was never any big reveal.”
Joanne McNally and her mother Pat (Image: joannemcnally/ Instagram)
She describes how she can’t recall ever being told that she was adopted, and as a child, assumed everyone else was adopted too, saying: “When you’re a child, you assume your normal is everyone’s normal.”
The 42-year-old shared the gorgeous way her mum, Pat, explained to her and Conor how they came to be adopted by the family. She describes how Pat turned the story of their adoption into a sweet bedtime story, and would explain that they were adopted becaue they were so loved by everyone.
“Every night she’d say ‘everyone loves you so much’, there was never any rejection, my thing was that I was too loveable, that everyone was just like, fighting to keep me kind of thing!”
Joanne shared that despite growing up in such a wonderful home with her adopted family, “I did absolutely feel like there was something amiss, for sure, and now I would call it an identity crisis, of sorts.”
She told Jamie how as a child she would invent lives and stories for her birth parents in her head, and how a desire to understand her own traits and personality better drove that curiosity of who her birth parents are.
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This led to her researching her life before adoption, and she tells Jamie of the mixed emotions that came with finding the name of her birth mother.
She took a break from researching after becoming overwhelmed by the reality of finding her birth mother’s name, but Joanne describes why she made the effort to find out about her birth family, saying: “I had a very happy adoption, I’ve been very lucky but there is a lack of context for yourself.”
“When you look behind you and see your parents and your grandparents and you know, there’s a physical resemblance… adoption is just like being spat out of a space ship, naked, in the woods. You’re like, where did I come from?”
