Tisha Campbell-Martin gave an update on life with the sister she reunited with last month after having been estranged their whole lives.
Back in October on an episode of “The Real“, the “Martin” star surprised guest Ellen Lindsey with the shocking news that the two — who didn’t know each other before the program — shared the same father. Ellen also learned during the show she had a full-blood brother, Duane. Tisha revealed that they all share the same father, but Ellen and Duane also share the same mother, a woman named Laverne.
During her guest host stint with the show on Wednesday, Tisha thanked the production for allowing the reunion to take place before saying, “Now, as far as my sister is concerned — we talk all the time! My brother — they talk every single day! We talk like we’ve known each other all our lives. I say, ‘I love you,’ she says she loves me.”
The panel and audience went wild for the great news.
“We’re like family. And she’s such a great addition, and her family’s such a great addition — her wife and everybody. She’s a prayerful woman and she’s always sending me prayers. And I just love her so much,” Tisha gushed.
The actress said Ellen drove down to meet the rest of her newly discovered family just two days after they filmed the show, as a picture of Elleen, Duane and their mother Laverne posing together was shown on a monitor.
“Look at that. Oh my god. Spitting image,” said co-host Jeannie Mai.
After Tisha referenced a joke Loni Love made at the time about Ellen watching “Martin” her while life without knowing the character Gina was her real life sister, the star said the Hollywood fame and fortune doesn’t concern Ellen.
“That’s the great part, you guys! She doesn’t care — she calls every one of our family members. She’s met everybody, I think, at this point. But she doesn’t care. Yesterday, I mean, when we were doing Soul Train Awards? She was like, ‘I was at a function with my baby, but you know — I’m so glad that you got to rock the Soul Train Awards!'”
Tisha had been working with investigative genealogist Pam Slaton for “several years” trying to track down her long-lost family member. Pam was also in touch with producers at “The Real,” and they were the ones who told Tisha the good news, a source from the show told TooFab.
After Tisha agreed to have the reunion filmed for “The Real,” producers then reached out to Ellen, who had only discovered she was adopted a year earlier, to arrange her visit —— simply telling her she’d be coming to the show to meet family members for the first time. “Then everything came together perfectly,” the source explained.
While Duane first learned about Ellen when he was 18 and Tisha found out about her when she was 33, they kept running into dead ends on their search for her. Slaton finally connected all the dots.
“Duane is first born. Then my mother got pregnant with me and he married my mother,” explained Tisha during the reunion episode. “Then you came and Laverne never wanted to give you up for adoption. She cries on your birthday every single year. You look exactly like your birth mother.”
“She knew she couldn’t give you the life with just being a single mom that she really wanted to give you and she had to give you up for adoption,” Tisha continued.
“And before she passed away, we wanted to find you so that you guys could meet and he’s been searching since he was 18 years old for his sister,” she added, noting Laverne was still alive.
Ellen then gave an update on her life to her big brother and sister. “My dad’s deceased. My mom is 90 now, she did an excellent job raising me. I went to college. I’m her only child, I’m spoiled,” she explained.
After the show aired, Tisha shared an update on Twitter. “My chest was heaving and my entire body was shaking when I saw her next to me on the couch,” she wrote. “She has a heart of Gold! We’ve been talking everyday since!”
She also praised the show’s producers, staff, Slaton and her “beautiful friends/cohosts” for being “so supportive.”
Check your local listings to catch all the gossip weekdays on “The Real.”
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