The boy who DIVORCED his parents: 20 years after 12-year-old legally split from his family, he reveals how he regrets never reconciling with his mother before she died
- Shawn Russ hit headlines as a boy in 1992 as he divorced his mother, who had neglected him, and his abusive alcoholic father
- Was brought up in Florida with adoptive parents and eight siblings but struggled with depression, drug use and arrests
- Has now overcome his demons and forgives his mother, who died in 2006, and says he is the happiest he has been in his life
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Struggle: Shawn Russ has opened up about life after he divorced his parents when he was 12
It was an unprecedented court battle that saw 12-year-old Gregory Kingsley successfully divorce his parents and start a new life with a large, loving family under the name Shawn Russ.
But 20 years after the case ended years of neglect at the hands of his biological parents, Russ has revealed that his struggles were far from over.
In his first interview in more than 17 years, he has described how he slipped into an adolescence of drug abuse, arrests and depression as he attempted to come to terms with his fame and settle into normal family life.
And, as he neared his thirties, demons still remained as he battled with the regret of never reconciling with his mother, Rachel, before her death in 2006.
'Winning the trial and being given a family that loves me wasn't the answer to everything,' he told People magazine. 'I've been on this quest just to be ordinary.'
Russ, who is now 32 and living in Webster, Massachusetts where he works in a glass door factory, hit headlines as 'Gregory K' when he sought a termination of parental rights in 1992.
After his biological parents divorced, he had been raised by his alcoholic father and spent a life on the road, travelling through Colorado and Florida and being handed from home to home.
He hardly had any relationship with his mother, who had given birth to him at 18, and would sneak collect calls to her whenever he could.
New life: Russ is pictured as a boy on September 25, 1992 after a judge granted him a divorce from his mother, who had abandoned him, and his father, an abusive alcoholic
When Russ was eight, his father assaulted his girlfriend and he went to live with her and his two younger brothers, Zachary and Jeremiah.
The arrangement lasted just months as, unable to cope, Rachel put him in foster care - a move which deeply affected the young boy into his adulthood.
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Share'It took 28 years to come to terms with feeling abandoned by my mother,' he said.
He was sent to a boy's ranch, where he met attorney and child welfare advocate, George Russ. Russ, who was also raised by an alcoholic father, already had eight children, but 'something about Shawn rang a bell', he said.
Pain: His mother, Rachel Kingsley, right, is comforted by her sister after the judge makes his ruling
Regret: Russ said he regrets never again speaking with Kingsley, pictured with her attorney at the hearing
'GAIN YOUR HAPPINESS': HOW RUSS TOLD OTHER KIDS TO DO THE SAME
In 1992, Shawn Russ, then known as Gregory Kingsley, became the first child to legally sever ties with parents. The televised case grabbed the nation's attention and set a precedent for fellow children after Russ said he hoped it would 'encourage other young people to take action to gain their happiness'.
He even helped in the case of Kimberly Mays, a 17-year-old girl who was switched at birth in a Florida hospital in 1978. In 1993, the judge granted she could cut off all contact with her biological parents, who were trying to get full custody, as she wanted to stay with the man who had raised her as his daughter.
In another high-profile case, Home Alone actor Macaulay Culkin 'divorced' his parents in 1997, when he was 16. Two years prior, his parents separated and fought over their children's earnings. Through his case Culkin gained control of his own wealth.
In 1994, at age 14, actress Juliette Lewis also severed ties with her parents - but it was to side-step child labour laws and allow her to maintain a busy work schedule, rather than out of a bad relationship with her parents.
The Russes invited the boy to their home and, on the second visit, he asked them to adopt him.
He moved in with the family but struggled with their routine. The Russes remember him suffering from crippling self esteem when he was unable to do things the other children could, such as ride a bike.
But as he began to settle in, taking saxophone and tennis lessons and camping with the Boy Scouts, his biological mother said she wanted him back and a legal battle was launched.
It meant that, at age 11, Russ was flung into the spotlight, appearing on shows including Oprah as he explained that he wanted to sever ties with the woman who had abandoned him.
'It was crazy,' he recounted. 'I was this unwanted kid. I really didn't know much, and here I was on TV.'
After a two-day hearing in Orlando, after Russ had turned 12, a circuit court judge granted the boy's wish. His father had never contested the case, but Rachel filed an unsuccessful notice of appeal.
He returned to the Russes home in Leesburg, Florida, with five new brothers, three new sisters and his new adoptive parents, George and Lizabeth Russ. But it wasn't easy to adjust.
'The fame came from a bad past,' he said. 'It wasn't an accomplishment of mine.'
Feeling misunderstood, he fell in with a bad crowd in his teenage years and began dabbling in drugs to numb his depression, which led to two marijuana-related arrests, People reported.
Battle: George and Lizabeth Russ speak out after winning custody of the youngster. George, an attorney, had met Shawn after his mother put him up for adoption and he was sent to a boys' ranch
Precedent: Russ carries legal papers into a courthouse to help Kimberly Mays divorce her parents in 1993
He dropped out of community college and moved out of the state to distance himself from a place that reminded him of his old identity. But throughout his struggles, his new family was there.
'They never turned their back on me,' he said. 'It developed my understanding of what a family is.'
After moving from Florida, he said he was careful whom he shared details of his past life with. But he soon realised he was no different, as 'everybody has some type of pain they've been through'.
And after his biological mother's death in 2006, he realised that part of his healing was overcoming the regret he felt at never speaking to her following the court case.
'She loved me,' Russ, who also has no contact with his biological brothers, said. 'My mother was human and she made mistakes.'
New family: Russ is pictured back left with his parents, George and Lizabeth, and some of his eight siblings. He said the way they always stood by him 'developed my understand of what a family is'
As he has battled to put the pain of his childhood behind him, he and his siblings now agree he is the happiest he has ever been.
He no longer suffers from depression and hopes to find a partner, marry and have children, fulfilling his ultimate dream to become a father, he told People.
And he can now recognise the legal feat he made as an 12-year-old boy, and that he should be proud of what he achieved.
'My life hasn't been a fairy tale,' he said. But I'm happy. That's what matters.'
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