Connie Britton Shares Difficulties Being a Single Mom After Adopting

Actress Connie Britton shared insight into her choice to become a single mom through adoption in 2011, when she welcomed son Eyob to her family.

Connie Britton had clear eyes and a full heart when deciding to grow her family.

But still, the Friday Night Lights actress admitted she didn’t necessarily know what to expect when she adopted her son, Eyob, now 14, from Ethiopia in 2011.

“I went into [that chapter of my life] a little bit blindly,” she told Parade as part of their March 2025 cover story. “Not really fully anticipating what it is to be a single mom and how difficult that is, and what you’re taking on in doing that.”

On top of her new journey as a parent, Connie embarked on another change by moving with Eyob to Tennessee to film the series Nashville in 2012. And at the time, she “didn’t know a soul” there.

“[I] started working 16-hour days, 18-hour days, and had this little baby at home and was like, ‘Ahhhh,’” she explained. “It was kind of ‘crisis mode’ a little bit because I didn’t know what I was doing, and I really didn’t have people to rely on.”

The American Horror Story star explained that while she was away from family and friends, she was thankful to still have help during that time, noting, “I had a stay-at-home nanny. So I realized, ‘Oh my gosh, at least I have help.’”

However, Connie—who ultimately left Nashville after departing the show in 2017—has no regrets about her decision to have a child by herself. 

“I was like, ‘What am I waiting for?’ I know I want to adopt. I can do this,” she told Andy Cohen in a 2021 episode of Watch What Happens Live. “But that was a little delusional because it turns out it’s a really hard thing to do, but I would only encourage anybody to do it. You can do it!”