She was only a day old when her biological parents gave her up, believing their careers mattered more than raising another child. Born in Los Angeles in 1964, the little girl was adopted by Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert, a young couple who had not even been planning to adopt. They already had their own family concerns, and yet a sudden phone call changed everything. Barbara was told that a newborn girl was available. Her husband, away at the time, simply told her to go get the baby. The child would eventually grow up surrounded by love, but the truth about how unexpectedly she entered the family would remain hidden for years.

As she grew older, she was told a carefully constructed story about her biological parents. She believed her father had been a distinguished scholar and her mother a celebrated ballerina. Meanwhile, she built a life in Hollywood and became a beloved child actress. But when her adoptive father died, long-buried questions about her past began surfacing. She eventually discovered that much of what she had been told was untrue—and that the family had kept another devastating secret from her for decades. At just eleven, she learned one version of her father’s death. Years later, she would discover the truth.