ZondervanThere are some surprising revelations in Jay DeMarcus’ new memoir, Shotgun Angels: My Story of Broken Roads and Unshakeable Hope, which is out today. For example, the Rascal Flatts’ hitmaker reveals he had a daughter in his early twenties that he gave up for adoption.
At the time, he was in the Christian duo, East to West, and had only dated his girlfriend for a month before they became pregnant.
“[We] discussed many options, including getting married and raising the child ourselves, but we quickly determined we’d be making that decision for the wrong reason,” he says in the book.
“Abortion was never an option,” he adds, “so we began to discuss adoption.”
Jay’s mother even offered to raise the child, but he says he soon realized his girlfriend wanted nothing to do with him.
“From the very beginning, I wanted to be in [my baby’s] life,” he writes. “But her mother, Maggie, didn’t want either one of us in her life. That was a hard pill to swallow.”
“I understand that sometimes life sends us reeling because of unexpected situations,” Jay continues. “But my heart in that moment, though scared, still desired to be in this beautiful child’s life.”
Jay’s daughter would be in her twenties now, but he’s never met her.
“My heart finds satisfaction in knowing that she ended up with a wonderful family, but I’ve had to live with this my entire life,” he explains. “The adoptive family was supposed to give her a letter when she turned 14, explaining that I loved her, did not abandon her, and have tried several ways to make it possible to be in her life.”
Jay went on to have two children with his wife Allison: 8-year-old Madeline and 6-year-old Dylan.
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