After her big win on American Idol, McKenna Faith Breinholt opened up about how her success changed her life. It may not be how you expected, either.
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After winning competitions like American Idol, it isn't uncommon to never hear hide nor hair of the singer again. Once they have done their bit for the show, they usually get one album out, and then that's it. It's on to the next season.
But this American Idol alum had a very different experience after their competition win. McKenna Faith Breinholt was an adopted child who had been living with an adopted family from a young age. However, when she won the show, they organized an extra special prize for her.
McKenna Meets Family After 'American Idol' Win
As she waited for her prize post show, McKenna Faith Breinholt had the surprise of her life. Her mother had given her up as a baby. Suffering from lupus, she knew she couldn't take care of her child. She gave her up for adoption. But the win brought them back together.
Looking back on the meeting with her mother, she said, "It felt like a reunion... because it felt like I'd known them my whole life. I just froze. It was overwhelming in the most beautiful way." Winning American Idol was one thing, but coming face to face with her long lost mother was a whole new emotional rollercoaster.
McKenna had no hard feelings about her mother's decision either. "She's put me in a place where, I have this beautiful family with these amazing parents who supported me and gotten me to where I need to go, and she's just been my guardian angel, you know, in the background, making it happen, but I felt her like a lot throughout my life," she said of their post American Idol meet up.
Now, after her win, she is dealing with the changes to her pace of life. As she gets ready to release her debut album, she's slowing back down to life's usual pace. "You're just exposed to so much excitement and so much fame, and it's go, go, go. So, when the show's over, you kind of just are like, 'What is my purpose? What am I supposed to be doing?" she told ABC15.
Now, she has time to focus on her first album with her newfound fame. Perhaps she will be one of the American Idol alumni that sticks around.
