A Woman Abandoned Her Newborn Baby on a Plane Seat – 13 Years Later, She Returns to Find Him
Rhonda was just a 16-year-old girl when she discovered she was pregnant. Her life took a dramatic turn when she told her father, David Harris, about the baby. David, a wealthy man who owned a large textile company, was not pleased with the news. He had always controlled Rhonda’s life and expected her to follow his wishes.
When Rhonda told him she was pregnant, he was furious. “PREGNANT?! You must be out of your mind, Rhonda!” he yelled. Her father didn’t support her decision to keep the baby and told her she would need to figure out how to raise the child on her own.
“You’re going to get rid of that child, Rhonda. Do you get it?” David said firmly. Rhonda, however, had made up her mind. She refused to abort the baby and told her father she would raise the child by herself. David was unimpressed and gave her an ultimatum: if she kept the baby, she would have to leave his home.
Feeling unsupported, Rhonda packed her bags and left that night, cutting all ties with her father. She ended up at Peter’s house, the father of her child, hoping he would help her. But to her shock, Peter turned his back on her too.
Peter said, “Look, babe, I’m not ready to be a father. You should have stayed with your family. Your father could have helped us.” Rhonda couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Peter had once been excited about the pregnancy, but now he was abandoning her. “If you keep the baby, we’re over,” Peter said, slamming the door in her face.
With no one on her side, Rhonda left Peter’s house in tears, unsure where to go. As she wandered the streets, a sharp pain hit her stomach. She was going into labor. Desperate for help, Rhonda pleaded with strangers, but no one paid attention. Just when things seemed hopeless, a woman named Angela Bamford noticed her and helped her into her car. Angela rushed her to the hospital, where Rhonda gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
The next morning, as Rhonda recovered, Angela sat by her bedside. “Thank you for helping me,” Rhonda whispered, worried about the future of her child. Angela was sympathetic to Rhonda’s situation and listened as Rhonda shared her heartbreaking story.
“I can’t take care of him,” Rhonda sobbed. “I’m homeless, and I don’t know how I’ll provide for him.”
Angela shared a painful memory with Rhonda. “I had a daughter your age once. When we found out she was pregnant, we kicked her out. She couldn’t handle it and took her own life. I don’t want anyone else to go through what she did.”
Angela offered to help Rhonda. “I’ll buy you a ticket. You can start over and give your baby a better life.” Rhonda was hesitant but eventually agreed to take the help. Angela arranged for Rhonda and her newborn to fly from Texas to New York, where Rhonda hoped to build a new life.
On the plane, Rhonda’s mind was filled with worry. She was terrified of the future and whether she could care for her son. As the plane landed at JFK, Rhonda’s fears overwhelmed her. She was scared she wouldn’t be able to provide a good life for her baby in a new city. In a moment of desperation, Rhonda made a heartbreaking decision.
She left her baby on the plane seat with a note. She hoped someone would take him in and give him the life she couldn’t. As the other passengers disembarked, she quickly exited the plane, feeling torn but convinced it was for the best.
A flight attendant named Lincy discovered the baby when the plane was empty. She was shocked to find the note left by Rhonda. It read: *“I’m a poor mother who couldn’t care for my child. Please accept him as your own. I hope you name him Matthew Harris.”* Lincy was moved by the message and decided to take action.
**Thirteen Years Later**
For 13 years, Rhonda struggled with homelessness and poverty in New York City. She had gone through a lot, but eventually, she was able to find a steady job and start rebuilding her life. However, every day, she felt the weight of her decision to leave Matthew behind.
Now that Rhonda was financially stable, she felt ready to face the guilt she had carried for years. She decided to search for Matthew, the son she had left behind. With the help of a police officer, she was able to track him down. To her surprise, Matthew had been adopted by Lincy, the flight attendant who had discovered him on the plane.
Rhonda reached out to Lincy, explaining everything that had happened. Lincy was hesitant but agreed to help Rhonda explain herself to Matthew. When Rhonda met Matthew for the first time in 13 years, he was angry and confused.
“My mom? You must be kidding me!” Matthew shouted. “Where have you been all these years? I don’t need you! I’m happy with my adoptive parents.”
Rhonda’s heart sank. “Matthew, please listen to me,” she begged. “I never wanted to leave you. I didn’t have a choice. I was poor, and your father had abandoned me. I didn’t know what to do.”
Matthew wasn’t ready to accept her explanation. “You left me alone! I don’t care what you say. I have a family now.”
Lincy, seeing the tension between them, stepped in. “Matthew, I know this is hard. But your mother is trying to explain herself. Please, just give her a chance to talk.”
Rhonda was devastated by Matthew’s anger but knew she had to try. “I can’t undo what I did, but I’ve changed. Can you give me a chance? I just want to be a part of your life.”
Matthew paused for a moment, his emotions conflicted. “I don’t know… I can forgive you, maybe. But I can’t call you ‘mom.’ I already have a mother.”
Rhonda nodded, tears streaming down her face. “That’s okay. Can I at least see you on weekends?”
Matthew agreed, and over time, their relationship began to heal.
Today, Matthew is a 23-year-old data scientist in New York City. He has forgiven Rhonda for abandoning him and accepted her back into his life. Rhonda, now in a stable relationship with a man named Andrew, is grateful for the chance to rebuild her relationship with her son. She even met Angela again when she returned to Texas, and the older woman was happy to see that Rhonda had turned her life around.
This story is one of pain, loss, and redemption. Rhonda’s journey shows that even the hardest decisions can lead to healing when both sides are willing to try.
Remember her from ‘Crocodile Dundee’? What she looks like today leaves fans in tears
Linda Kozlowski became known all over the world following her role in Crocodile Dundee. The American actress starred alongside Paul Hogan, and the two embarked on a wonderful voyage of love together after the films.
Sadly, Kozlowski and Hogan divorced in 2014, though the couple share one son together. Since then, she’s gone her own way in life, and has found love once again.
So what did Linda Kozlowski get up to following Crocodile Dundee? And what does she look like today? This is all you need to know!
Every actor or actress dreams about that big breakthrough role and the glamorous life that will almost certainly come with it. A great performance in the right film or series can open doors to offers that will likely move one further up the Hollywood celebrity ladder, which is turns means more money and more fame.
Linda Kozlowski – ‘Crocodile Dundee’
Oftentimes, we see actors pretty much playing the same sort of role over and over again. If one finds success as a tough guy or the girl next door, for example, we can expect to see them starring as similar characters in their next few jobs.
But just because someone’s been in one of that years’ biggest and most popular films doesn’t actually mean that fame is guaranteed. And, in fact, some actors just don’t want to continue in Hollywood, even after they’ve been a part of a great success story.
One such actor is Linda Kozlowski. She got her big breakthrough as Sue Charlton in the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee, and quickly became a star all over the world.
Crocodile Dundee changed her life, both on a professional and personal level. But after three Dundee-films and several other appearances, she disappeared.
Looking at her filmography, Linda Kozlowski hasn’t starred in any sort of production since 2001. So what happened? And what does she look like now?
Here’s all you might want to know about her!
Linda Kozlowski was born on January 7, 1958 in Fairfield, Connecticut. The daughter of Stanley and Helen Kozlowski, she grew up in Fairfield and graduated from Andrew Warde High School in 1976.
Linda Kozlowski – early life
Kozlowski had a passion for acting early on. She decided to pursue a career in the business and was accepted into the prestigious Juilliard School’s drama division. She graduated in 1981, and went on to move to New York.
To start off her acting career, Kozlowski starred in several off-Broadway productions, including How It All Began. She would go on to land smaller roles on broadway, as well as in television, including in the television film Death of a Salesman, where she starred alongside Dustin Hoffman.
However, as many actors probably will agree, moving to New York wasn’t easy. She worked as a waitress after Death of a Salesman wrapped up, and a that point, Kozlowski decided to leave for California.
Meanwhile, she and Dustin Hoffman had become great friends, and he became was sort of a mentor for her.
“It was cold in New York,” she told People. “And I didn’t see any other work in sight, and I was sort of miserable.”
Hoffman and his wife wanted to help Linda out. They offered her the chance to stay in their Malibu beach house, and only six weeks after her move to the west coast, she auditioned for Crocodile Dundee.
Dustin Hoffman was actually the one that recommended her for the part, since he was very impressed with her performance in Death of a Salesman.
“Linda got the movie because they liked her”
“There was a feeling in that room that was so positive,” she recalled of the audition. “I never once thought, ‘Oh, my God, this might not work.’
“Dustin asked me, ‘Who are these people? What are their names, and where are they staying?’,” she recalled. “And I told him. So just as they were calling me to say I had the part, they got a phone call: It was Dustin Hoffman. At first they thought it was a friend doing a bad impersonation.
“Once they realized it was Hoffman, they were just beaming. It was a sign they’d made the right decision.”
Kozlowski’s longtime friend William DeAcutis added: “Dustin’s call was like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, but Linda got the movie because they liked her.”
In 1986, Kozlowski starred alongside Paul Hogan in the first Crocodile Dundee film. It became one of the biggest films’ of the year, earning a staggering $320 million. Considering it only cost about $10 million to make, it was – on top of the fans loving it – great business.
At first, however, when Linda arrived at the Crocodile Dundee set in Australia, it was something of a shock.
“It was 4 o’clock in the morning, freezing cold, with kangaroos and wild buffalo roaming around. I was in a daze,” she said.
Over night, Linda Kozlowski became a star. But the funny thing was that for a short while, she was a huge celebrity in Australia – but yet unknown in the US.
Major success with ‘Crocodile Dundee’
Crocodile Dundee opened “Down Under” before it opened in the US, which meant people in the US didn’t know her at all.
“It was a bit like being Cinderella,” Kozlowski told the Los Angeles Times. “In Australia, I’d be riding about in limos, whereas here I was still running around in my old Toyota trying to see casting directors.”
Linda soon went from a struggling actress to a star. However, she always felt that she didn’t get that much attention. All in all, it was all about Dundee.
“But I’ll tell you where I was a big star,” she said, laughing. “In Fairfield, Conn., where I grew up. My parents, Stanley and Helen Kozlowski, still live there, and when the movie opened they saw it again and again.
“What’s funny is the local paper never referred to me as ‘Linda,’ always as ‘Stanley’s daughter.’ It was ‘Stanley’s daughter says this…’ and ‘Stanley’s daughter says that’…”
Two years later, she appeared in the second Crocodile Dundee film, and in 2001, the third one, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles was released.
At that point, Kozlowski had also found love. And it was with her co-star Paul Hogan, also known as the Crocodile Dundee.
The couple married in May 1990 in Australia. According to the Los Angeles Times, Hogan gave her a $2 million mansion as a wedding gift.
Marriage with Paul Hogan
Following her first two very successful appearances in the Crocodile Dundee films, one might think that Linda Kozlowski had hundreds of offers for new projects. Well, for her, that wasn’t the case at all.
Sure, she had options, but nothing felt exciting.
“After Crocodile Dundee I turned down lots of stuff, most of it where I’d play the girlfriend of some funny man,” Kozlowski said, explaining that she used the scripts for a whole different reason.
“I use them for kindling, to get the fire started,” she said.
“That’s about all they’re good for. I was getting very depressed, but finally something good did come along–‘Pass the Ammo.’ That’s been a long time coming out, but now there’s a release date.”
In 2001, Linda Kozlowski appeared in the third Crocodile Dundee film. But that was her last appearance in any production to this day.
Before the third film, she decided to leave show business. In 1998, she and Paul Hogan had welcomed their first and only child together, Change Hogan, and instead she wanted to focus on raising her beloved son.
After 23 years of marriage, Linda and Paul divorced in 2014. The couple filed for divorce in October 2013, citing “irreconcilable differences” as the reason.
Divorced in 2014
Speaking with New Idea, Linda explained that she now wanted to be the one in the spotlight. According to Sydney Morning Herald, Linda received $6.25 million in a one-off payment. At the same time, Hogan kept the rights to his Crocodile Dundee character, as well as the film company that produced the films.
Furthermore, Kozlowski was allowed to stay in their home in Los Angeles for four years or until she remarried – whichever came first.
“I lived in Paul’s shadow for many, many years and it’s nice to feel my own light right now,” she told New Idea, adding that the problem between the two was the lack of shared interests.
“Honestly, we just naturally grew apart. One of our problems was we really had nothing in common and, over time, that happens to a lot of people.”
Paul Hogan said the same thing, however added that they still make things work despite their differences.
“We were opposites and we were attracted to each other for a long time. Opposites in everything,” Hogan said.
“From the food we ate, the music we liked, the entertainment we liked, the colors, the clothes, the places, everything, It worked anyway.”
The couple still have shared custody of their son, Change. And despite the divorce, they remain close friends.
Linda Kozlowski today
“The divorce was completely amicable. We talk on the phone all the time, I go over and have coffee,” she said. “We’re completely friendly. Everybody’s happy.”
Linda left the spotlight and has relocated to Morocco, where she has found love once again.
During a trip to Morocco, she was led by local tour guide Moulay Hafid Baba. Speaking to Luxe Beat, Kozlowski said their attraction was instant.
Together, they founded a Marrakesh-based luxury travelling business Dream My Destiny, where they plan customized journeys depending on what their guests desire.
“We knew in a flash that we had known each other for a thousand years, which was a magic moment in both our lives,” Linda Kozlowski said. “As business partners, we plan all our guests’ trips together.
“He’ll look after the men when the ladies need to shop for shoes! He knows the country inside out, including the Sahara Desert. You feel safe with him wherever you are.”
It’s easy to say that Linda remains a very beautiful woman!
It’s been a long time since Linda appeared on screen. She will forever be remembered as the wonderful Sue in Crocodile Dundee, and her legacy will live on forever.
No plans of returning to acting
Today, she’s 63 years of age. However, she has no plans on returning to the big screen.
“I don’t miss acting because my life is so full now. Reality is better than make believe.
“One thing I always hated about acting was that it got in the way of having an adventurous life,” she added.
“You had to stick around LA and wait for work. Now I’m rejoicing in my freedom. I definitely think acting helped develop my intuition, which is essential to my new endeavor, as so much of what I do is based on reading people and instinctively catering to their needs.”
Linda Kozlowski was a truly wonderful actress. But in the end, we’re happy that she choose to follow her passion.
Please, share this article with friends and family to honor Linda Kozlowski!
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