A former contestant from American Idol has been joyfully reunited with her brother, whom she had been seeking for years, after sharing their story on social media. Both siblings were adopted separately several decades ago.
Julia Gagnon, who resides in Maine, took to Instagram in September to post a video that included photos of a baby she believed to be her brother. Thanks to the investigative skills of internet users, her hopes of finding him became a reality.
“I never anticipated receiving a genuine response,” said the 23-year-old in a follow-up video, expressing her surprise and gratitude.
Gagnon, adopted from Guatemala when she was just a baby, became a familiar face on the popular reality TV show in 2024.
Unbeknownst to her, during her performances on the show, her biological brother was watching, completely unaware that the talented singer on stage was his sister.
The journey to reconnect with her birth family began when Gagnon was 18. Her adoptive parents, Jim and Meg Gagnon, had enlisted a private investigator to help locate her biological relatives, according to the Portland Press Herald.
The investigator not only found her birth mother, but also discovered two half brothers who were still in Guatemala – as well as another sibling from the same parents.
Gagnon’s journey to finding her sibling began after her birth mother, Sara Ramos, died in Guatemala in 2024. The singer noted there was a baby boy in the pictures that were shared online by her mother’s family, thinking that baby may be her brother.
Former American Idol contestant Julia Gagnon, shared the journey of finding her long lost brother on social media and has now been reunited with him
She decided to post the photo of the baby on social media in September which was later shared by an adoption group on Facebook.
The photo was seen by a woman who recognized the baby as her foster son and identified him as Alex Gentry – Gagnon’s younger brother.
Gentry’s foster mother shared the picture with him and he tracked Gagnon down online, where they made plans to meet for the first time.
In late September, Gentry took to Instagram to share his shock over finding out he has a sibling whom he’d been separated from for two decades.
‘I can’t thank God enough that we were able to find each other,’ he wrote in a lengthy post, along with a series of pictures.
‘Yesterday evening I found out I have a birth sister!’ he continued. ‘We were both adopted and brought to the US.’
Gentry, 22, added though he was sad to learn their mother had passed away, he’s ‘grateful’ he found siblings to help fill in some of the questions he’s had over the years.
‘For she [Ramos] was and forever will be my motivation, and I know she’s watching over all of us. Our family will be together again soon,’ he wrote.
Her brother Alex Gentry’s foster mother shared the picture with him and he tracked Gagnon down online, where they made plans to meet for the first time
The siblings are seen meeting in person in September
The long-lost siblings finally met in person last month, with Gagnon making the journey to North Carolina to finally meet her younger brother.
The siblings told the Portland Press Herald that Gentry plans to visit Gagnon in Maine and attend her wedding next June.
Gagnon, who admitted in an Instagram post that she has struggled with ‘absence, loss, and questions’ surrounding her birth family, said she is thrilled to have have found a new extension of her family.
‘It’s such a blessing that I found him and could get to him so quickly,’ Gagnon, who made the journey from Maine with her fiancé and two friends, told the publication.
‘I’m sure I’ll be back down there soon,’ she added.
