💥 I’m not here to perform gratitude for people who left me behind.

Thank you to those who remembered me on my birthday.🎉

Your words meant more than you know, especially now.

I celebrate until the fireworks paint the sky on the 4th of July, wrapped in Pride’s colors and the fight for freedom. But this year? It’s quiet. The quietest it’s ever been.

My first truly solitary birthday in over a decade and a half.

I grew up disowned.

By a mother who hated the parts of me that looked too much like my father.

She threw out my music, my art, anything creative she couldn’t control.

I was the scapegoat for her rage about his affair.

My father and my stepmother, Maureen, did no better.

A famous performer and radio DJ himself.

A self-described “failed actress” who still led the Screen Actors Guild.

They cut me out to protect their egos.

They couldn’t stand me shining with my own light.

Maureen made sure I was forced into college at 16 on my own dime while she conquered every last cent, sock, and crumb of my father’s estate.

That betrayal is a wound that still pulses.

But it’s not my shame to carry.

I refuse to see the world through their eyes.

I’m done making their rejection the measure of my worth.

I’m done pretending their hate defines me.

They couldn’t love me.

So I have promised to love myself.

They couldn’t hold my light.

So I let it burn anyway.

I am NOT for everyone.

But I am for myself.

And I am not here to be small.

This is not a post for pity.

This is my truth.

Because some truths demand to be spoken aloud, raw, messy, and real.

Tonight, loneliness is my companion.

Lilith, my rescued Pom, at my side, since we rescued each other.

Music is still my confessional.

My face card never expires.

And my body, unpredictable with pain, reminds me daily that life is fragile, fleeting, but still full of stubborn possibility.

Even through the glow of a lonely screen, your words prove connection is real, even in the deepest solitude.

So thank you. Truly. For seeing me.

Your birthday wishes mean more than anyone from my bloodline has offered me since I was a child.

If you see me, share this.

If you hear me, stand with me.

This is the voice they tried to silence. It is only getting louder.

❤️‍🔥🎶