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The LA Lakers documentary "Legacy" revealed last year that team owner Jeanie Buss had an older sister who was given up by her parents for adoption.
Lee Klose was the first-born of Dr. Jerry Buss and JoAnn Mueller before they earned their fortune. When Jeanie learned about having a sister, she was completely stunned.
In an interview with Graham Besinger, the Lakers controlling owner opened up about having an older sister. She explained that her mother told her about her sister when Dr. Buss died in 2013. Her mother had Alzheimer's, so Buss thought that it was not real at first.
"When my dad passed away in 2013, my mom called me, and she was at the beginning of her dementia," Jeanie said. "She told me the story about when they were first married that they had given up a child for adoption, and she said that they gave away the child because she was a girl.
"So like, 'Okay that doesn't make sense.' I go, 'Well, if you gave her away cause she was a girl, why did you keep me? And she goes, "I don't know.' Like okay well, 'Why are you telling me? Do you want me to go find her?' She goes, 'No, I just needed you to know."
Fast forward a few years, Lee Klose finally got her adoption papers and found out that her parents are Dr. Jerry Buss and JoAnn Mueller. Klose emailed her sister Jeanie Buss to notify her that they had an older sister.
It confirmed JoAnn's story to Jeanie, who set out a meeting between her older sister and her mother. Klose was able to meet her birth mother eight months before she passed away in 2019.
"I did get to meet my birth mother and tell her that I love her and that I lived a good and peaceful life, and she never had to worry again," Klose said. "It was love at second glance." [H/T RedRock News]
Lee Klose paved the way for forgiveness between Jeanie Buss and her siblings
Jeanie Buss' relationship with his brothers Jimmy and Johnny took a hit when the family feuded over the ownership of the LA Lakers in 2017.
It was a difficult time for the family, but the arrival of Lee Klose, their long-lost sister, more than a year later helped pave the way for healing.
"With Lee, knowing her strength of forgiving her parents should be a calling to us that forgiveness is a good thing," Johnny said on 'Legacy.'
Jeanie added:
"She looks at Johnny and Jimmy without all the weight of the things that have happened in this family. So it made me see them with fresh eyes and a blank slate."
