Roma Downey Discusses Importance of Family: ‘My Greatest Joy’
By Movieguide® Contributor
After losing both of her parents by the age of 20, Roma Downey understands the importance of family and the blessing of growing old.
“Losing my mother was the hardest thing,” Downey told Woman’s World. “It was as if the world was in technicolor and then just black-and-white, but I’ve always felt her heart around me. The promise that our faith makes to us is that death is not the end and that we will be together again.”
“I believe in heaven. I believe in an afterlife, so I believe I will be with my mom again one day, but growing up without her was very hard. I always think I had a hole in me and when my daughter was born, she made me whole,” she added. “It gave me back the relationship I had been longing for my entire life, to become a mother.”
Now that her children are grown up, Downey cherishes the moments she gets to spend with them and continues to be incredibly thankful that she was able to step into motherhood.
“My greatest joy is my family,” Downey said. “I have a beautiful daughter, Reilly, and two amazing stepsons, James and Cameron. We don’t see as much of each other as we used to because the kids are grown now and they have their own lives and their own friends and interests.”
“But when we do get together and sit down at the table together, we hold hands and pray and then we break bread togethers,” she added. “That’s me at my happiest.”
She celebrated her kids on Mother’s Day.
“I get to celebrate my beautiful daughter Reilly and also these two fine young men James and Cameron. We are very close. I couldn’t love the three of them more. Mark and I are so grateful that we have three great kids and such a beautiful family,” Downey wrote.
Being able to spend time with her children as adults is not a joy that she got to experience with her own parents. Even with Hollywood’s emphasis on staying young, Downey now views growing old as a blessing that brings many wonderful gifts not found in youth.
“I’m learning to let go of the fear around aging,” she explained. “I’m a daughter of a mother who died at 48. Growing older is not a privilege afforded to everybody. So I start every day in gratitude. I might joke about my neck, but I’m just grateful for my health.”
Even still, Downey continues to stay busy with her work. Her most recent project, THE BAXTERS, is an adaptation of Karen Kingsbury’s series of the same name and offers viewers an uplifting story focused on family – something Downey believes the world needs more than ever.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Kathy Lee Gifford, her daughter Cassidy and Roma Downey recently spoke with Movieguide® about why people need Amazon Prime’s new show, THE BAXTERS.
Downey believes it’s important to address hard topics like infidelity from a faith-based perspective.
“As a community of believers, we don’t often get to see a churchgoing family who are dealing with issues. I mean, this is not a perfect family. They have plenty of challenges being thrown at them, but we know…that even in our brokenness, you know, our God welcomes us home,” she told Movieguide®.
“And so this show has, you know, a beautiful dealing with themes that are important. It’s dealing with pertinent social issues too. It’s dealing with loss and longing. It deals with infidelity and divorce, and, you know, I mean, it doesn’t shy away from things that we’re all dealing with,” she added.
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