She was abandoned at a French airport when she was just a baby — ever since she's been in search of her identity.
Emilie tells Brut her story.
Emilie tells Brut her story.
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00:00I really had this deep pain, this distress to tell myself where is my mom, why did she leave me and why did my dad leave me.
00:12She doesn't know her birthday, she doesn't know her place of birth, she doesn't even know the name she was given at birth.
00:18One thing she does know, she has 50% of Indian DNA.
00:22Somewhere there is someone who knows something, I have to find that person.
00:25It's not trivial to leave a child like that.
00:30For Brut, we met Emily.
00:41As a baby, she was abandoned at a French airport over 26 years ago.
00:46Today, Emily is an adult.
00:50I was abandoned at Orly airport.
00:55It was the 17th of September 1994.
00:59A young woman was working at a car rental desk.
01:05She found a bag and in the bag there was a little girl who was gasping.
01:12This little girl was me.
01:15Emily has searched for her identity for years from her village in southern France.
01:21And today she's agreed to share her story with us.
01:29When people ask me where I'm from, I say I'm from Ardèche.
01:32It's my birthplace.
01:34We are in Ampurani, in Ardèche.
01:39My adoptive parents are from this village.
01:43So I grew up in this village.
01:50Where I come from is the question I've been asked the most.
01:53I always answered, I'm from Ardèche.
01:56And people would say, no, but...
01:59I mean, you can see that you have origins elsewhere.
02:09When I grew up, I really felt this mysterious feeling around my abandonment.
02:18It's not trivial to leave a child like that.
02:29I was found in a grey bag.
02:31It was in pretty good condition.
02:35A sleeping bag with clothes inside.
02:40The outfit I was found in.
02:43A Hello Kitty blanket.
02:49The air force intervened.
02:52They cleared the flights on arrival and departure of Orly that day.
02:59It didn't work out.
03:01Since they didn't know what else to do,
03:04I was taken care of and taken to Pouponnière.
03:10The director gave me a name.
03:14I got the name on the 19th of September, Saint Emily.
03:18So my name was decided like that.
03:20It's really a fabricated identity.
03:24I stayed six months until I was adopted by my parents.
03:28They are called Monique and Philippe.
03:30They are both from Ardèche.
03:34With my mother, I went to her right away.
03:37It was very fusional between us.
03:40This is our first meeting.
03:42It was the first time.
03:44I touched her hand and she came into my arms.
03:47And she stayed for at least half an hour.
03:50And she stayed for at least half an hour.
03:53Without moving.
03:55Against me.
03:58This meeting was logical.
04:04When I was about 7 years old,
04:09I had this very deep pain and distress.
04:15To think, where is my mother?
04:17Why did she leave me?
04:19Why did my father leave me?
04:21I remember that.
04:23In the evening, we went to read and kiss.
04:25She told me, Mom, I would like to see my mother.
04:27So I said hello.
04:29My husband was there.
04:30But she said, no, not you.
04:31I want to see the other one.
04:33It came back to her right away.
04:37I have no information about the baby I was before I was found.
04:41And that's what's obsessive.
04:43There are so many possibilities.
04:45I ask myself, which one is the possibility?
04:47Because I don't understand.
04:59On July 25, 2017,
05:01with my parents,
05:03we opened my adoption file.
05:05It was in the Children's Social Assistance Office.
05:08Formerly the ADAS.
05:10In it, there was the verbal trial
05:12that was established after my abandonment.
05:19We open the first pages.
05:21And really, I realize at that moment
05:24that there will be nothing more.
05:26And I say to myself,
05:28OK, well, it's been 23 years,
05:30no one has looked for me.
05:34When she opened her file,
05:36all three of us cried.
05:38Because in fact, we realized
05:40everything she had to live
05:43during this period
05:46when she was abandoned.
05:49This period, it was really a period
05:53that had marked her very deeply.
06:02When we opened my file,
06:04afterwards, with my parents, we discussed it.
06:06And I said to them,
06:08but this file,
06:10what did we do with it?
06:12And in fact, that's when they told me,
06:14well, she's in the attic.
06:20In the summer of 2017, with my mother,
06:22we took it out one day
06:24and we turned it in all directions
06:26to try to see
06:28if there was not a little word,
06:30a clue,
06:32something that could give us information
06:34or a mark,
06:36something like that.
06:38And we didn't find anything.
06:43It's the void.
06:45When you read the definition
06:47of what the void is,
06:49you say to yourself,
06:51yeah, it's an ocean of emptiness.
06:53And it takes you there.
06:55And you say to yourself,
06:57but it's scary to say to yourself,
06:59you're nothing.
07:05For 26 years,
07:07Emily's questions have remained unanswered.
07:09In April 2020,
07:11during France's coronavirus lockdown,
07:13she posted a message on social media,
07:15a last-ditch effort to try to find
07:17her biological parents.
07:34I surfed a lot on the internet.
07:36I saw that there were a lot of people
07:38connected all the time.
07:40I said to myself,
07:42I'm going to try to advance my story.
07:46Please help me share this message
07:48and these photos on social media
07:50everywhere and to everyone.
07:52I'm sure that somewhere,
07:54someone knows something.
07:57So I share it around 8 p.m.
07:59And in fact, at midnight,
08:01I think there were already 10,000 shares.
08:05After two or three days,
08:07we had 30,000 or 40,000 shares.
08:09And after a week,
08:11I think we had reached
08:13130,000 or 140,000 shares.
08:18After her appeal to social media,
08:20Emily was flooded by messages.
08:22Initially, many of them came
08:24from the East African islands
08:26of Mauritius, Madagascar and Réunion,
08:28where many people are of Indian descent.
08:30People write to me
08:32saying,
08:34you look like me,
08:36you look like my mother,
08:38you look like my sister,
08:40you look like my cousin.
08:44In all the messages I received,
08:46there were a lot of people
08:48who told me,
08:50with your story,
08:52the most effective way
08:54to get information
08:56is to do an DNA test.
08:58I open the results
09:00and I realize
09:02that I am Métis,
09:04that I have 50%
09:06of my origins
09:08coming from India,
09:10that I am 15%
09:12Turkish,
09:1435% European,
09:16and 9% French.
09:24I feel
09:26totally French.
09:28I was super happy to see
09:30that I really had French origins
09:32in my DNA,
09:34because being French,
09:36there are people who think
09:38you have to be white,
09:40while I think
09:42France is Métis.
09:44I did everything
09:46I could
09:48to be visible
09:50and that the people
09:52who left me,
09:54could find me,
09:56know where I am,
09:58and ask me questions.
10:00I did my part
10:02of the journey.