In this emotionally charged episode of KARAMO, host Lex facilitates a reunion between Chrissy and her long‑lost mother after a 27‑year separation. The conversation unfolds as Chrissy, visibly nervous, recounts her turbulent past: she began using drugs at 18, introduced by a friend, which led to a severe addiction that she describes as "horrible." Her substance use spiraled, causing her to lose direction, custody of her three children, and stable housing. Family members misused her rent money, resulting in eviction, and she was placed under Child Protective Services (referred to as DIFAS). Chrissy shares that she has been clean for nine months, having completed a recovery program and no longer thinking about drug use. Throughout the interview, Lex asks probing questions about the first meeting, the depth of her addiction, the circumstances that led to losing her children, and her current state of sobriety, while the host provides supportive affirmations. The episode serves both as a personal testimony of hardship and resilience and as a poignant illustration of a mother‑daughter reconnection after decades of separation.
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You nervous?
Yeah, I'm nervous.
I can imagine. All right, Lex has a lot of questions for her long-lost mother Chrissy, and Chrissy has come prepared to answer all of them. Everyone, please welcome Chrissy to the show.
I love you so much. I'm sorry.
Chrissy, thank you for being here. Here you go.
Thank you.
Yes. Okay, so this is your first time meeting face to face. What is this moment like for you?
Oh, it's amazing. It's amazing. She's beautiful. She looks like me.
So why didn't you meet her before today?
I was going down the wrong path. I, no, not going. I went down the wrong path. I got hooked up to the wrong people, thought they was there for me and they really wasn't. They was just there to take me down with them.
Yeah. And how bad was your addiction for the first part of your life?
Oh, it was horrible.
It was horrible?
It was horrible. It was new to me and so much, I had so much introduced to me that, you know, I was young.
How old were you when you got addicted? When you started using?
I'm gonna say 18.
18.
Yeah.
Yeah, so you're still a baby.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. I had no directions.
Got it, got it. Who's the first person who introduced you to drugs?
It's a friend of mine.
Friend of yours. Are you still friends with him today?
No, no.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was just wondering. At this moment, you're clean, I've heard.
Oh yes, I've been clean for 9 months.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Congratulations.
Yes, I completed the program and I have not been high since and I don't even think about it.
Good, good, good, good, good. So take me back to what happened when you started having children.
Oh wow. I had 3 of my boys, I had 2 jobs, I was pregnant, I had my own place, I was doing good. Then I had a couple family members come over. So that turned into a disaster because they took my rent money, money for my food, and I got evicted. I had a friend tell me that, okay, there's a place called DIFAS you can place your kids.
Mm-hmm.
And you can—
So for anybody who doesn't know, DIFAS is what they used to call CPS.
Right, Child Protective Services.
So Child Protective Services.
Mm-hmm. So I took her word for it. I did— You didn't do your research? No, I just took her word for it. I was young. Did she do that same thing to her kids? No, she did not. So why would you do it without researching it?