Ellie Simmonds thanks fans for support following emotional adoption documentary
10 July 2023, 13:39
Ellie Simmonds reunited with her biological mother in the ITV documentary after making shocking discoveries.
Ellie Simmonds makes shocking discovery about her adoption
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Ellie Simmonds, 28, has thanked fans for their support after her adoption documentary Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family aired last week.
The Paralympic champion found out in the documentary that medics had branded her 'evil and stupid' when she was born and that her mother wished she had an abortion.
The emotional programme saw Ellie reunite with her mother off-screen in a meeting which the athlete said was "amazing".
Now, Ellie has reached out to fans to thank them for all their kind messages following the release of the documentary.
Taking to her Instagram page, Ellie wrote: "Just want to say thank you so much to everyone for the messages and support I’ve received since opening up about my story and the lead up to the documentary.
“But my biggest thanks goes to everyone who helped make the doc what it is. Thank you to Jas, Colleen, Glesni, Jo Clinton Davis, @arthursbearnecessities @jonolanc, Essex Social workers and everyone else (I wish the doc could have been longer so people could hear your story too) who I chatted to who allowed me into their lives and family home to help shed a light into disability and adoption."
She added: “If you’re adopted or fostering and need support, there’s some amazing charities and people to help, such as @adopteefutures and @adoption.uk.”
Ellie, who has achondroplasia dwarfism, was put up for adoption 10 days after she was born.
In her documentary, she found out that doctors had given her mother an information sheet after she was born which described people with dwarfism as being considered 'evil and stupid' by people.
Social worker documents also revealed that following her birth, her mother said that she wished she had an abortion, or that Ellie had died.
Ellie, however, revealed to the cameras that she was not angry at her birth mother, and had reached out to her by letter.
In a reply, the mother said that she had been riddled with "guilt and self-hatred" over her actions.
Speaking of their meeting, Ellie told the cameras: "It was amazing. We spoke about everything over the last five hours. We've got the same sense of humour we were laughing so much.
"I felt like her face was just like me. What touched my heart was that she thinks about me everyday and she always sees me as a daughter."
