Why Edie Falco Chose To Be A Single Mom

In 2005, "The Sopranos" and "Nurse Jackie" star Edie Falco decided to adopt her first child after settling into the single life, as well as being at a point in her career where she could afford to start a family (via Salon). "I had been in a couple relationships in a row where we were looking at marriage and then we were looking at kids, and then the relationship fell apart," she told Vulture.

At first, Falco didn't see the appeal of having kids. But she started to realize that when "you're with someone you love and the idea of raising kids together feels fantastic, it starts to take root." When both of her relationships ended, she still had the urge to be a mother –- especially following her cancer diagnosis in 2003 (via New York Magazine). "So once I got a clean bill of health and I realized I wasn't gonna die, I was like, it's time to have kids."

A then 40-year-old Falco found that by that point, she "was clearer about wanting kids than wanting a partner at the time." So she decided to adopt, mainly after forming a relationship with her dog Marley and experiencing "a kind of love [she] had never known." She explained to CTV News, "I have a hard time believing Marley did not come from my body [...] I feel that connected to her. She made me realize I wanted to adopt children."

This culminated in the adoption of her two children, Macy and Anderson, when she was 48-years-old. When the time comes to have the conversation with her two kids about their adoption, she isn't at all apprehensive. "I don't [worry] because I am really clear in my head what it's all about," she told Anderson Cooper on his self-titled show (via US Weekly). "The second you are handed a newborn, it is yours. It doesn't matter what body it came out of. I've never felt more strongly about anything in my life."