Philomena Lee facts for kids

Annie Philomena Lee, born on March 24, 1933, is an Irish woman. Her life story became famous through the 2009 book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith. This book was later made into a movie called Philomena in 2013. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Judi Dench, who played Philomena, and Best Picture.

Today, Philomena Lee is a strong voice for adoption rights. She started The Philomena Project to help people understand adoption laws. Her goal is to find ways to make these laws better. In February 2014, she even met Pope Francis to talk about adoption rules.

Philomena Lee's Early Life

Philomena Lee was born in County Limerick, Ireland, in 1933. When she was six, her mother passed away from tuberculosis. Her father, who was a butcher, sent Philomena and her sisters, Kaye and Mary, to a convent school. Her brothers stayed at home with their father. After finishing her schooling at the convent, Philomena went to live with her aunt, Kitty Madden.

When Philomena was 18, she became pregnant. She was then sent to the Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea. This was a place for young mothers who did not have a husband. After her son was born, Philomena had to work at the Abbey without pay. She was forced to stay there until she was 22 years old. At that time, the Abbey arranged for her 3-year-old son to be adopted by a Catholic family in the United States.

This adoption happened without Philomena's permission and against her wishes. In Ireland at that time, this was a common practice for young mothers without a husband. After forcing Philomena to sign the adoption papers, the nuns at the Abbey refused to share any details about her son. They only said he was taken to the United States. After leaving the Abbey, Philomena moved to England and trained to become a nurse.

She got married in 1959 and had two more children, Jane and Kevin. She worked as a nurse for many years. Later, she divorced her first husband and married again.

The Book About Philomena

Around Christmas in 2003, Philomena finally told her family that she had given birth to a son when she was 19. She also told them she did not know where he was. For many years, she had secretly tried to find out what happened to her son, but she had not been successful. A few weeks later, at a New Year's Eve party, her daughter Jane decided to talk to a journalist named Martin Sixsmith.

Sixsmith and Philomena spent years searching for her son. They eventually found out that he had been adopted by an American couple, Doc and Marge Hess. They named him Michael Hess. The Hess family had also adopted a little girl named Mary from the same Abbey. Mary and Michael grew up together as brother and sister. Sixsmith and Philomena later learned that Michael had passed away in 1995 due to a serious illness. They also discovered that Michael had tried for years to find his birth mother, but he was not successful either. Before he died, he arranged to be buried at the Sean Ross Abbey. He hoped that his mother might someday find his grave, which she eventually did.

The Film Philomena

A movie script was created by Jeff Pope and Steve Coogan. It was based on Martin Sixsmith's book. Stephen Frears directed the film, and Judi Dench was chosen to play the role of Philomena. The movie was released by The Weinstein Company in November 2013. It received nominations for four Academy Awards. These included Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score.

See also

In Spanish: Philomena Lee para niños