Mitchell's blue eyes, long legs told Gibb she was her mom

Saskatoon StarPhoenix
April 9, 1997

TORONTO (CP)  When she saw Joni Mitchell's face staring out of her computer screen, Kilauren Gibb knew the long search for her birth mother was over.

Gibb got her first good look at her real mom last February, while clicking her way through the Canadian singer's Internet home page.

She found 14 points of comparison  blue eyes, blonde hair, long legs, high cheekbones  all suggesting more than a coincidental link between the two.

"It just kept getting stronger," Gibb told the Toronto Star during an interview, her first since the discovery was made public.

"The more I read, the more I realized how alike we were. She was a singer, I was into music. She was an artist. I painted. We both enjoyed the same things."

Gibb was looking for the mother who'd given her up 32 years ago at the same time Mitchell was looking for the daughter she'd given up for adoption 32 years ago.

It would take another six weeks before the two spoke together.

Gibb said she plans to keep her feet firmly planted on the ground and continue living in Toronto.

Mitchell told the London Daily Express that finding her daughter was "the peak experience of my life."

The Toronto Star quoted Gibb as saying she didn't care who her mother was: "I wouldn't care if my mother was a crazy bag lady in the streets or the Queen of England."

But Gibb, who's living on student loans while studying desktop publishing at Toronto's George Brown College, says if having a famous mother can open doors, she won't complain.

"If it works for me, I'd be quite happy," she said. "But I don't have any expectations. I just wanted to find my mom."

Gibb has modeled, acted in commercials, as a movie extra, studied piano, loves photography, and is a talented amateur painter.

Toronto photographer Brad McMath, who believes he is Gibb's father, says he too would like to meet her. The 56-year-old Toronto man says he met Mitchell at an art school in Calgary in the 60s but says he hasn't seen her for "years and years."

Gibb didn't find out she was adopted until she was 27. Her adopted parents, retired teachers David and Ida Gibb, didn't want to tell her at first because they didn't want her to feel like an outsider.

Eventually they gave their adopted daughter a starting point, telling her to call the Children's Aid Society for more information.

It would take five years before the society's package found its way to her mailbox.

"The CAS information described her as being a successful Canadian folk singer," Gibb said.

She didn't make the connection to Mitchell until she browsed through her Internet home page. Mitchell asked Gibb to fax her some photographs of herself as an infant. After Gibb's pictures matched photographs Mitchell had taken before she gave her up for adoption, Mitchell called again.