‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star says raising a daughter with Down Syndrome was like a ‘rebirth’ for her

On Grey’s Anatomy, she was “Amelia,” the brilliant surgeon who debated whether to have kids at all, has a whole other storyline playing out in her own life. In an interview with Good Morning America, actress Caterina Scorsone opens up about her personal journey as her daughter PIppa’s mom. Pippa has Down Syndrome, which Scorsone expresses pushed her to live a more examined life. 

“It forced me to reconsider everything about love,” she says. “It ended up being the beginning of life for me, kind of a rebirth for me, as well as her birth. I had the opportunity to rediscover everything about what my life was, what her life is…it opened into life becoming so much more textured and so much more colorful and so much more appreciated.” 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Caterina Scorsone (@caterinascorsone)

She adds that this is why advocacy and visibility matters. “There are so many assumptions that are culturally given to us, that everybody is supposed to look a certain way,” she says, calling it a “reductive” perspective. She calls for us to stop wishing for a particular child isn’t good enough. Instead, she wants us to be curious about the “amazing being born to you”. “We can start to learn how to love each other and love ourselves.” 

In her Instagram post, Scorsone calls for a societal awakening around disability.

“There are hard days, but the hard days aren’t because of Down syndrome ever: they are only hard because our culture and society doesn’t do equity well,” she writes. “Her needs are particular. Not special. They are just hers. Our culture hasn’t quite learned how to love itself well enough to know that all of our needs are particular.”

She gives advice to others who are receiving a diagnosis that you didn’t expect — find your community. “Seek out the moms and dads and families.” This fights against fears around isolation, and connects you to the joy that can expand from within to society, she explains. Well said, Amelia.