- Oh my gosh. I'm kinda-- I got chills.
- That really warms my heart.
- (FBE) So, Albreanna, we're making this episode all about
your viral Twitter thread.
♪ (industrial intro) ♪
- (FBE) So today, we are gonna be talking about a story
that went viral on Twitter. - Which one? (chuckles)
There's a new one every day.
- I feel like every day there's a new viral story.
So, (laughs) we'll see.
- I don't have Twitter, so I don't really know
what's going on with Twitter.
- (FBE) So, Albreanna, we're making this episode
all about your viral Twitter thread. - Ooh.
- (FBE) We think it's a story that relates to everybody,
so we're having all of our different generations react to it.
- Okay. - (FBE) And so, we have kids
all the way through elders in this episode.
- Oh my gosh!
- "I found my biological family." Ohh! I think I read this!
- "I found my biological family. I'm a daughter.
I'm a sister. I'm an aunt.
I'm a granddaughter."
- "[Bleep]." (laughs) "I'm a relative. A thread."
- Wow. Good for you.
- She probably went up for adoption or something
and she was given away when she was probably a baby,
and she finally found her family.
- Over 96,000 retweets and 343,000 likes.
That's crazy.
- When you post pictures and videos, you only get one caption.
I didn't want to do individual tweets, so I just put a thread.
And that way, I could put my-- That's why I did it,
'cause Twitter was the best way to tell the story.
- "First of all, a little about me. I was adopted at birth
and never knew my family or where I came from."
- "I just knew my mom was Thai, and my dad was black.
I was on a mission to find them."
- I think it's kind of sad that they gave her up at birth.
I think it's sad for anyone to be given up at birth.
- Aww, the "Annie" thing. That's cute.
- Everyone always tells me-- when this "Annie" came out,
people who know my story, they're like, "When we went
to the movies, we just thought of you," you know? Like, okay.
- "So, I get a message from this guy off of @Ancestry.
He asked me questions like..."
- "'Is your name Albreanna? Were you born in South Carolina?
And is your birthday in August?' I'm like, 'Yeah.'"
So, he's what? Her brother? Her uncle? Who knows, huh?
- That's kind of scary, because random dude or--
yeah, a random dude just messaging you.
"Is your name Melanie?
Were you born in November?" That's kind of scary.
- People are finding each other through ancestry.com and stuff
or the 23andMe, and I feel like that's sketchy.
(laughs) - "He's like, 'Well, I'm your brother,
and I've been looking for you for years.'
My heart instantly drops."
- "And I'm like, 'Don't play.' He's like, 'Yeah.
You're the third youngest of four.' I'm shook."
- Oh my gosh. That's ridiculous.
- It's heartwarming. She was adopted,
didn't know who her family was,
and her brother found her all of a sudden.
- He sent me a message through Ancestry,
'cause it only connects to you if you do the DNA test
and then someone does it.
It didn't hit me until I was like, "Well, FaceTime me."
When he FaceTimed me and I'm, like, looking,
I'm like, "Oh my god. This guy looks like me."
- "So, he gets me on group FaceTime
with all my siblings."
I didn't know you could do group FaceTime.
- "We share the same Thai mom, but different dads."
- Oh my gosh. I'm kinda-- I got chills.
- "Mom was a rolling stone back in the day."
Oh, [bleep]! Go on, mama.
- Oh, that's so cute that they all got to FaceTime.
That must've been so crazy to be like, holy crap,
here are your faces, and we're actually talking
for the first time. I can't imagine what that felt like.
- When they're all on FaceTime with me, you know,
that was like, 'Hi, Sister." And I was like, (pretends to cry).
And we was just on the phone for, like four hours.
And we was just roasting each other.
I was like, "Well, we now know who's the better looking one
in the family," and everyone just started
dying laughing. It was crazy. We just all clicked.
- "My youngest brother, who was the one who found me,
ironically lives 30 minutes away from me in LA,
so I zoomed over to meet him." Aww, they're so beautiful.
- Right around the corner. It's difficult to imagine.
- Oh my gosh. How crazy, though,
that they would live in the same area?
- We took a picture. We hung out for hours.
We went to the park and talked, and it was great.
He's a vegetarian. And he's single, ladies.
But now that he has a sister, ya gotta go through me!
When we were on that FaceTime group, they was like,
"We need to all meet up."
They were trying to do it in August, and I was like,
"Nah, I need to do this now." They called her--
He called her off the phone. He was still FaceTiming.
And he was like, "Yo, on 4th of July,
you should come to Atlanta." And that's where, you know,
our grandma stay. He's like, "I'ma fly you out
from New York." She lives in New York.
She's like, "Oh, okay. I'ma come through."
You know, she got, like, a New York accent.
I fly to Atlanta, and then my brothers and sister
come and meet me. I'm in the car, and I'm nervous,
but I don't wanna-- you know, they already
been roasting me all day, so I didn't wanna seem too soft.
- (Albreanna) I feel anxious. I feel a little bit of maybe anxiety.
- Aww. - (Albreanna) There's just so much
going on right now. And I just don't know
how she's gonna reciprocate to me. What if she doesn't accept me?
What if she does? What if she gets mad
that they brought me? - Wow.
- (Albreanna) Like, so many emotions I have running through me.
- (sadly) Mmm. I can't even imagine. Like...
are you gonna vibe with them?
- That's the scary part is you don't know
the reaction you're gonna get, obviously, from a person
who had to give you up at some point.
- They're your family, but you've never known them
your whole life, so it's kinda scary, nervous, happy.
It's a lot of feelings, like she said.
- That could be a scary one, 'cause, you know, hey,
for some reason, mom and dad left.
Do they want a relationship or not? She's brave to find out.
- I was terrified. I recorded me, of that feeling right there,
and I was just like, you know, what if she gets back
on the plane? Being an adopted person
or a foster person, you're like, "Yo,
you gave me up. Why would you wanna see me?"
You know what I mean? There's just so many scenarios
that could go through your head of what's happening.
At that time, I started doubting myself.
I'm like, "What am I doing? Why am I here?"
- (Albreanna) So... - (man) First time meeting your mom.
How you feeling right now?
- It's about to go down! - (Albreanna) I am so scared.
I'm like hiding. She's gonna come from over there...
- Man, that's wild.
- (Albreanna) ...from off the airport. - (gasps) They're picking her up
at the airport?
- She's, like, reverted back to her younger self, you know?
She's just a little kid again. Like, "Oh my gosh!"
- (man) You ready for it?
- (Albreanna) No! - (laughs) She's cute.
- That gives me butterflies, her waiting. Oh my god.
- Ohh, I just feel so happy for her. But then again, her mom
might be mean, so I'm kind of scared for her.
- I just wanna see what's gonna be the ending.
- I'm not in doubt. I'm just scared.
Like, from my head to my toes, I'm terrified.
- (mom) Look at my babies. Aww. - (brother 1) Oh yeah.
- (brother 2) Oh yeah.
- (sister) You got another baby, too. - (mom) Who is that?
- Aww. - (sister) Albreanna.
- (mom) No, it's not. - (sister) It is.
- (mom) No, it's not. - (brother) Oh, you know what?
It is. - (mom) No, it's not.
- Awww. - (sister) It is.
That's sister. - Oh, wow.
- Ahh. (chuckles)
- (woman) That's why we brung you all the way here.
- Oh, so they flew her out just for that, too? Wow.
- (mom crying) - Aww, that's nice, man.
- That really warms my heart.
- You could even hear it. She's like, "No, it's not."
I'm sure she's having her own set of emotions.
- She's most likely crying of happiness that she finally
gets to meet her daughter.
- That's so cute. She's just crying.
Oh my god. That makes-- That gives me chills.
- (choked up) Oh, [bleep]. (laughs) It still gets me.
As I'm walking, I felt like I was a little girl.
I felt like I was nine years old. I was, like,
(choked up) walking to her, and she was just, like,
you know, "Who is that?" And they told her.
And she started breaking down. And when she started breaking down,
that's when I slowly started growing back up to my age.
I was just like, "Come here. Let me nurture YOU.
It's okay. I accept you. I'm not mad. I'm not angry.
I'm here to meet you."
- (Albreanna) "This is Lett, my little Asian Thai mama."
- (laughs) - (mom) Don't [bleep] with my girl.
- (Albreanna and mom laugh) - (chuckles)
- Aww. That's amazing.
- Aww, that's so funny. They're finally together,
which is very good for them. And I'm glad she found them.
- They was just in the car, and we were in the back of the seat,
and we were just, like... I was like, it's lit.
After we were done crying in the airport and we was in the car,
that was just... that was moments after.
- "My mom got my name tatted on her ankle the next day
after she gave me up. She told me she was never
gonna forget about me, and she didn't."
Aww. That's so cute.
- I'll be doggone. - That's tough.
She didn't wanna forget about her, but she had to probably
in the circumstances.
- But did she spell it correctly? Because look, it says that
on her name tag.
- My adopted mom changed the spelling of my name,
and of course, it's different, 'cause my adopted parents
are on my birth certificate. So, it was a closed adoption.
So, I mean, they could've changed my name.
It could've been-- I could've been a Becky.
Fate, man. She was like, she liked the name
and just altered the spelling a little bit.
- "I am complete. I am a child who found people
who look like me, act like me."
- "It's crazy that my mom and I share the same mannerisms,
but never grew up around her."
- That's so sweet. And I'm happy that she finally got
to meet her family.
- We slept in a bed too together. We was at my grandma's house,
so, you know, there was a lot of people there.
We slept next to each other in the same bed.
It was-- it didn't feel awkward either.
It was really cool.
- "Thank you, Ancestry, for connecting me
and my long-lost family. My journey is complete,
and life has new beginnings." Aw, that is dope, man.
- That's quite a family.
- They look all the same.
- That's amazing. It's cool we have the technology to do that now.
- We have so much to catch up on. I mean, we only spent
two days together. And then, we've been talking
on the phone ever since. I haven't even got to my dad.
That's a whole nother story within. When I look at it,
people are like, "Are you mad?" And I'm like, you know,
she actually gave me up, and, I mean, I turned out pretty good.
Picture if, you know, under the circumstances,
something else could've happened.
I mean, I went through a lot already,
but you just never know. Some things happen for a reason.
Timing is everything.
- (Albreanna) Hi, guys. Thank you so much
for all the great, positive feedback
I've been receiving. - (touched) Mm.
- (Albreanna) I'm getting so many messages
from people around the world
asking me for help and advice. - Wow.
- (Albreanna) I feel like it's my destiny to help you guys.
So, what I wanna do is I've started a GoFundMe
to help me... - Aww.
- (Albreanna) ...with this journey of helping you guys
find your family... - Yeah, that's so nice.
- I think that's nice of her helping.
- (Albreanna) I started a hashtag called AlbreannaFindMe.
Send me all the messages... - Pretty cool.
- (Albreanna) Help me help you help us save the world!
'Kay. Thanks, guys. Bye. - So, she found her calling.
- So, she's gonna take this whole journey
and now, she's gonna go help other people?
That's wonderful.
- I think it went so viral, because it's something
that's not political. It doesn't have anything
to do with race. It's nothing negative.
You know, you can't really have an opinion on it.
It's about family, and that's something everyone
in the whole wide world can relate to,
whether you have it or you don't.
Now, that I fulfilled my destiny, I have a new one.
I have a new task. I've been given a new task in life.
That's this right here. This is what I feel like
is gonna help save the world.
- (FBE) So, that story blew up across the web.
Why do you think that this story took off the way that it did?
- Well, Twitter's a great place to put a thread
and put a story, first of all.
Threads like that go viral all the time.
And I'm happy that it's finally a good one.
- It had a happy ending, which is really neat.
And I think, you know, people were rooting for her
all along the way.
- It's such a big moment for her. It's such a big moment in her life.
Everyone should know that it's not impossible
to find your biological families.
- You see this young woman who was all by herself
and just the extended family and all the affection and love,
and the way it was told. It was like reading a novel.
- It's a whole journey she went through,
and shared it with everyone,
'cause she was just like, "Okay, I'm on a mission."
That just brought so much hope and positivity that people,
of course, wanted to share that amazing story. That's so rare.
- (FBE) So, everyone in this episode has read a little bit of your story,
but can you tell us more about your life as a whole
leading up to this going viral?
- Well, you know, I was adopted at birth.
My adoptive family-- my adopted mom raised me.
She passed when I was 17. My parents got a divorce
when I was nine, and then my dad
kinda went a little baby ghost. So, my mom was the only one
who unconditionally loved me.
I didn't start searching for them until I was 21,
like, after I changed my life from being a bad girl to a good girl.
And I was just like, "I need family."
I feel like now I have answers.
- (FBE) Millions of people in the US are adopted.
And while many do seek out their biological families
just as Albreanna did, some do not.
When you hear stories like this, what kind of thoughts
does it give you about your own family
and your own experience growing up with your family?
- I think it makes me-- I'm so grateful for my family
and everything they provided me.
- It just makes me think I'm kind of lucky
that I wasn't adopted, so I know who my real parents are.
- It's keeping that unit together, providing for your kids.
Family is just so important. To me, it's everything.
- My stepdad adopted me more recently, and I don't have a relationship
with my biological father. I haven't seen him since I was little,
like, barely remember the idea.
But I don't know, it was a really amazing experience,
because it was just cool to see for the first time in my life
a dad on my birth certificate,
(choked up) because I've never had that.
So, it was amazing.
- I think about the fact that it was only my mother,
my father, my sister, and I. I wish I had had a larger family.
We were in Europe, the Second World War.
My parents left with my sister and I.
You know, we were Jewish. My grandparents said nothing
would happen to older people,
but they all died in concentration camps.
That was it.
- (FBE) Now that you have found your biological family,
obviously it was last week,
but what has it been like... - Yeah.
- (FBE) ...in the aftermath of all of this, viral sensation?
- It's rewarding. My mom, she's all like, "I'm so happy for you,
but don't forget to send me dates, so I can see you in New York,"
'cause I always just say, "I wanna go to New York
for my birthday." And now I can!
- (FBE) And as we saw on Twitter, you've started a campaign
called Albreanna Find Me. Can you tell us a little bit more
about that? - Albreanna Find Me, I'm gonna turn it
into a non-profit. We tend to forget,
with all the distractions in the world, what's important,
which is family, yourself.
- (FBE) So finally, Albreanna will actually be in this episode
of Generations React. - No way! That's awesome!
- Oh my gosh! That's so exciting! (laughs)
- (FBE) And so, given that you now have the opportunity,
what question would you like to ask her?
- What got you started, Albreanna? What was that turning point
that you said, "I'm gonna go find my real mom."
- My mom died, so I felt very alone.
It hit me more like, "I need a mom.
I need a sibling. I need somebody."
- What surprised you the most about meeting your mom?
- That her mannerisms were like me, that she just didn't care
what people thought or said or did, and she just spoke her mind.
- How many people have already reached out to her
to start helping? And has that process already begun?
- Literally, I have thousands of stories in my inbox.
This lady, she was like, "I lost my two daughters.
They don't know about me. I don't know what they've been told.
I'm scared. I know their Instagram handles.
I know their address, but I don't know what to do."
So, I think she's actually gonna be the first person
that I'm gonna go-- that I'm reaching out to her.
We're talking back and forth.
- (FBE) Final question, what do you hope
is the big takeaway that people get from the story that you shared?
- The big takeaway is that we're all the same.
We all want to find our family.
When people saw the story, they were like, you know,
you take the smallest things for granted.
People will say, "Dang, my mom is calling me,
checking up on me." And I'm like, "Girl,
I used to always say I would die for that."
Be happy about those cookies that Grandma made for you,
'cause I'll eat them if you don't. (chuckles)
- Thanks for watching Generations React.
Shoutout to Mike Bautista and Itz Kiwi.
- If you wanna join the FBE family, then subscribe and hit the bell.
- Bye. - Hi, my name is Albreanna.
Thanks for having me. Make sure you subscribe.
If you wanna follow my journey, follow me on Instagram, Twitter,
or if you wanna help on the cause, everything's below. Thanks.