Meet the adoptive parents of Colin Kaepernick.
Teresa and Rick Kaepernick, a Wisconsin couple who adopted Colin a few weeks after he was born in December 1987, raised the former NFL quarterback, who is most known for his six seasons of play for the San Francisco 49ers.
Heidi Russo gave birth to Colin when she was just 19 years old. She has been transparent about her history in interviews and on social media in recent years, calling the decision to place her son for adoption one of the “toughest decisions” she has ever made.
Colin, a mixed-race man who identifies as Black, has been candid about the particular difficulties associated with growing up in a white adoptive household. The athlete and Netflix worked together to produce Colin in Black & White, a scripted series that explores his former experiences, in 2021.
Most recently, Colin revealed in a CBS News interview that his White parents found it difficult to accept their son’s racial distinctions. Colin welcomed his first child with fiancée Nessa Diab in August 2022.
Colin told the outlet, “I know my parents loved me, but there were still very problematic things that I went through.” Colin was promoting Change the Game, his latest graphic novel. He recalled an instance when his mother objected to him getting cornrows, calling the hairdo “unprofessional” and said he would appear like “a little thug.”
Although Colin Kaepernick struggled to embrace his Blackness, he acknowledges that his adoptive parents “loved” him.
“I believe it was crucial to demonstrate that racism is a problem that can occur in your own home and to discuss how we can address it as a group while still moving forward,” he said.
Colin has previously said that his parents are receptive to sharing their knowledge and making amends when necessary, saying, “We’ve always been very loving in the process, and you know I wouldn’t do it with anybody else.”
This is all the information you need to know about Colin Kaepernick’s parents, Teresa and Rick Kaepernick.
When Colin was six weeks old, they adopted him.
When Colin was six weeks old, Teresa and Rick adopted him from his biological mother, Heidi Russo (Colin does not have a relationship with his biological father).
While seeking for the ideal family to raise Colin, Heidi, who was 19 at the time, took care of him for a few weeks. Teresa and Rick met Heidi through a mutual friend, and they adopted him into their family in December 1987.
Twenty-six years later, Teresa told ESPN, “I’ll never forget that day.” “They placed him down after bringing him inside an infant carrier. There was the biological mother. After giving her a quick glance and getting her nod, I took him out of the carrier. I started crying the minute I picked him up. We embraced her tightly. She need an additional two minutes. After that, we departed.”
Heidi has talked about how she found out she was pregnant with Colin and what happened in the weeks that followed on her YouTube channel. She has also talked about the adoption procedure, describing how she choose Colin’s family.
Colin Kaepernick on Why He Changed the Game in His New Graphic Memoir
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