Realising Our True Selves With Adoptee Diane Bay

We all want to love and accept ourselves. But how can we do that when we don't know who we are? What else gets in the way of us loving ourselves? Listen in as Diane explore the truth of who we are, what comes after the fog and much more in this empowering episode.

Here's more about Diane from her website:

Diane Bay has had a lifelong, unquenchable creative drive. It wasn’t until she entered her fifties that she discovered where it may have come from: her artistic birth mother and birth father.

The natural world has always felt like home to Diane. As a child she spent hours in the climbing tree in her suburban Chicago back yard, often daydreaming of her birth mother. Little did she know that, at the same time, her birth mom was becoming a famous actress in Hollywood. Karen Black was an icon of the American New Wave cinema of the seventies, starring in prominent films including Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and The Great Gatsby.

But just as Diane longed for her natural maternal connection, Karen’s heart ached for the child she gave away. But after Karen signed the closed adoption papers and a nurse carried away her daughter, all the information about the child was sealed away, and her searches turned up empty.

Diane tried to find her birth mother also, but sealed adoption records made this impossible until 2011, when Illinois finally opened these records. In July of 2012 Diane received her original birth certificate and saw her birth mother’s name for the first time. A quick Google search provided the facts she’d sought for decades, and a face she was familiar with from the silver screen. Right away Diane sent a Facebook message to Karen’s fan page.

Sadly, at the time Illinois passed the law that unsealed these records, Karen heard the terrible news that she had a rare form of cancer. Her time was running out.

But then on August 8, 2012, she read Diane’s message and responded with acceptance and joy. And just like that, decades of heartache for both of them vanished, and a reunion was in place. They met in September, in Karen’s Hollywood home, with hugs and tears, feeling like family right away. Karen introduced her to her birth father, Robert Benedetti, still a good friend. He has also spent his life in the acting world as a TV producer, theatre director and much more.

At the time of their meetings, Diane was producing excellent, nostalgic works with graphite pencils. Karen was immediately impressed, and encouraged her daughter to pursue oil painting. 

During the weeks Diane spent caring for Karen, she soaked up her birth mothers joie de vivre, her rich and enthusiastic love of life’s moments even in the face of her own mortality. Diane’s goal is to imbue her artwork with this energetic spirit.

On August 8, 2013, Karen passed away. She and Diane had exactly one calendar year together.

Diane Bay now lives with her husband on a forested lot near Kentucky Lake. She paints the rural nostalgic countryside of the Mid South. 

Diane has taken workshops from the Southeast region’s fine plein air artists such as Bill Fletcher and Kathie Odom, and online tutorials by national artists such as Scott Christensen and Kathleen Dunphy. She is a member of PAPA Gallery in Paducah, KY and The Chestnut Group in Leiper’s Fork, TN, and associate member of Oil Painters of America.

For information on Diane's book, please visit FindingKarenBlack.com.

 See her artwork here: DianeBay.com

https://www.facebook.com/findingkarenblack

https://www.instagram.com/dianebaydesign/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.