Thomas Rhett and Wife Lauren’s Adoption Story Brings Kelly Clarkson to Tears {WATCH}

It was a special at-home edition of The Kelly Clarkson Show on Thursday (April 30.)

Not special just because it was at-home, but because of the special story Kelly’s guests told.

Thomas Rhett and his wife, Lauren Akins, reflected on how their family started with the adoption story of their 4-year-old daughter, Willa Gray.

Akins revealed that her mom is adopted and told Clarkson that adoption is something she’s “talked about” her “whole life.”

“I just thought it was really cool,” she said. “We’d talked about it off and on, but it wasn’t something that we had sat down and had, like, a full-on adoption conversation.”

Akins traveled to Uganda in 2016 with 147 Orphans where her heart was stolen by baby Willa Gray. She Facetimed TR and told him she had to make sure the baby had a “forever home.”

 

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Ohhh my goodness-the LOVE I have for this one 💛

A post shared by Lauren Akins (@laur_akins) on

“I was, like, so moved. I mean, the second I touched her, it was, like, electric,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my word. This little girl has just taken my heart.’ I was like, ‘Honey, we’ve gotta find her her forever home. Like, I know that’s why I’m here is to get this girl to her home.'”

Clarkson couldn’t hold back the tears upon hearing the sweet story. “Oh my God. You totally Oprah’ed me just now. I did my own makeup and this is not waterproof,” Clarkson said wiping away her tears. “It’s so beautiful because I know that feeling. As a mama, you touch them and you hug them. It doesn’t matter if it’s yours or not. We’re a blended family. You’re like, this is my purpose. It’s such a powerful thing.”

Rhett said he got the call around bedtime after a concert and said “Well, we’ll bring her home.” He added “I don’t fully remember even saying it. It was such a spiritual thing for me that it just came out of my body and literally two weeks after, we were having home assessments and talking to adoption agencies.”

After the long adoption process, Willa Gray finally made it to her Nashville home in May 2017.

Shortly after Willa Gray made it home, the family welcomed a baby girl named Ada James. The most recent addition to the family, Lennon Love, was born in February this year.

Watch the emotional exchange here:

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