Actress Rosario Dawson is opening up about her experience adopting her 17-year-old daughter, Lola [1]. In a recent interview with Health, she shared what it's been like watching Lola — whom she adopted at age 11 in 2014 [2] — come into her own.
"I'm grateful for her development, our maturation, and our connection. She moved in [with me] at 11; she's 17 now and going to be 18 soon," explained Rosario. "To have a young person move in with you and to have to really consciously work through triggers and that kind of stuff is a really different thing than being pregnant and having your baby grow up in front of you—to be able to see how we're getting closer and closer. We are a family, and it's beautiful."
To help Lola navigate the ups and downs of teenage life, Rosario made her daughter a standing therapy appointment. "My daughter has had therapy most of her life through foster care [4] and stuff," she said. "I've done weekly therapy with her starting at the age of 11. I have had it in my life, but it hasn't been specific to me and my personal needs."
"It wasn't even a question; it was clearly meant to be—she's my kid."
Rosario said that she's been open to adoption [5] ever since finding out that her dad wasn't her biological father at age 5. After acknowledging that the revelation was "super shocking," Rosario shared she never had a relationship with her biological father, who died in 2011.
"It was a lot to take in, and I recall thinking, 'What if my parents hadn't met, and I was older, and no one wanted to marry my mom because she had an older kid?' I remember vividly back then saying that when I was older I was going to adopt an older child," she explained. "With my daughter, I didn't go to an adoption centre or anything like that. My family knew her biological mom, and when we found out she was in foster care, we looked for her. It wasn't even a question; it was clearly meant to be—she's my kid. It's wild to think I manifested this when I was younger."