To the newsmakers podcast, I'm Billie Hollowell, and this is a show where we go behind the headlines every day to bring you an interview with a pastor, entertainer, politician, or other notable news figure. And this is a show, again, it's daily, but it's based on our weekly TV show, which is also called Newsmakers. You can watch it on the CBN News channel and also on our YouTube page. And on this show, every day, we dive deep. It's a little more longer form with one of the people who you will often see on our Newsmakers show or across the CBN News platforms. On today's show, actress Roma Downey joins us to talk all about her faith, how she relied on God to get through the most difficult circumstance in her life, and a new kid's book she has out right now. With no further ado, here is Roma Downey. Roma, you have an incredible new children's book, A Message in the Moon. And I know there's a really powerful story behind this book, the roots that were set for you to write it. Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, Billie, this story for this book has sat in my heart for a really long time. You know, as people may know, my mother died when I was just a little girl. I was only 10. And so my relationship with my father was especially close because he became a single parent to me, and he was a great dad. And now you fast forward about seven or eight years, and I'm getting ready to leave Ireland to go to university in England, and I'm anxious about leaving my dad, and you know, it's back in the day before there was a cell phone, if you can imagine such a thing. And so dad took me outside into the garden, and he pointed to the moon, and he said, you know, wherever you are in the world, Roma, you don't need to feel anxious or alone, because it's the same moon that will be shining down on us. And wherever you are, wherever you go, I'm going to leave a message in the moon for you. And so, you know, I took great comfort when I'd be walking home from college back to my lodging house, and I'd glance up and I'd see the moon, and I would pick up the message from my dad, and I would know that my dad loved me and cared for me. And unfortunately my dad passed away while I was in college, and I was very anxious and nervous about looking at the moon, sure that it would be empty of his loving messages, but I needn't have worried, believe because to this day, all these years later, my father still leaves me messages in the moon, he's just leaving them from the other side of the moon. Anyway, so this story has been sitting and growing and tugging at my heart for all these years, and I kept thinking, you know, there must be a nugget in this story that would make a beautiful and powerful story for young children, particularly children, perhaps who are anxious about any kind of separation, if mom's going off to work, or grandma's moving across the country, your best friend doesn't live here anymore. All the myriad of reasons, perhaps that a young child might feel some anxiety, that we could use the moon as this central source, this light source, to shine down love and reassurance into the kid's heart, into the kid's life, and so that's what I created here with Holly Hadam, who I have to give a shout out to, who did these beautiful illustrations for a message in the moon, and it just came out last month. It's doing very well, I'm happy to say, and people are starting to buy it now as a Christmas gift for their children, or for their grandchildren, or for some little kid down the street. But, you know, and for me, it just was a lovely way to honor my daddy, you know, all these years later, and, you know, my kids, as they've grown up, knowing this story firsthand, you know, Riley, my daughter, she could be, you know, she could be traveling for work or she's on a vacation or something, and I'll get a text where she'll send me a photograph of the moon, and she'll say, "Mom, look up, I left you a message." And so we kind of use it as a sweet connector, and, you know, I mentioned in the book, Belly, that a reminder that the moon has no light source, because the moon is only a reflection of the sun's light, but imagine if all the, you know, the things the moon absorbed was love, and then the moon did what the moon does, and just reflect all that love back to the planet. Yeah. And while there's something in that, I find very touching. That's incredible. And, you know, just going back to what you were saying about your dad, I mean, he must have been a really incredible person, you know, after losing your mom, you know, being that central figure, you know, in your life, and that relationship that you built, I would imagine you learned a lot about life, and obviously very difficult things in that loss of both of them, but what lessons did God teach you in that? Because it's such an important formative piece of your story. Yes. Well, I mean, the, to say that we were heartbroken would be an understatement, because we didn't even have the preparation of illness, you know, which I know can be traumatic and painful for a child to see their parents suffer and go through a long illness, but my mother just dropped dead, you know, there was no warning. And so it was as if somebody just turned the lights out in our lives. I mean, I often think back to that time, and, you know, if my childhood, if I was making a movie of my own life, my childhood would be in full technical color. And then when my mother died, it's as if the movie then went into black and white, you know, we were just so heartbroken. And I honestly know if we hadn't had faith to lean into, if we hadn't been people of faith, I don't know how we would have coped. I really don't know, I mean, sure, we feel the pain of death, like everybody else, but as Christians and as believers, we have an understanding of the promises of Christ around this issue and the promise of heaven and the resurrection of the body and all the things that we've been taught and believe. And so I have no doubt that one day I shall be in some form reunited with the people that I love, who I have lost, you know, but at that time it was really, really, really painful. And my adolescence was also, you know, because I think a girl needs her mom and my dad, as I say, was a great dad, but he wasn't my mom, you know. But I think because I suffered so early, Billy, I think the things that grew in me were my ability to have empathy and the, and my capacity for compassion. And my, you know, I wanted people to be kind, you know, and gentle with me. And in turn, I think I learned to be kind and gentle with others. And it's curious because, you know, I've done many things in my career. I've not been an author, as you know, we met when I was a producer on the Bible series, but my big break, and maybe what I was best known for, was playing the Angel Monica on the TV hit show, "Touched by an Angel." And when I first went in to read for the role of Monica, you know, they send out a little description of what it is that they're looking for, for the role. And you know, and I can't remember exactly, but it said something like, you know, needs to have a capacity for compassion, needs to, you know, be able to play empathy, needs to be able to hold a gentle and kind space. And I was like, wait a minute, it's almost like God had prepared me through, you know, the experiences, the unfortunate experiences of my life, but they were the very qualities that I was going to need to step into playing an Angel on TV. So, you know, there's always a blessing, I guess, in everything that happens. Yeah. And that was the blessing that came out of that pain. Yeah, God preparing you, you know, for that. That's really incredible. And I know this book, "A Message in the Moon," you know, it provides that peace for kids. It's beautifully illustrated, as you were showing, but as we're talking about the book and about peace, one thing I would say about you in getting to know you, you know, you're very loving, you're very peaceful, you have a peace about you always. And that's really interesting. I know we talked about your past and maybe how that shaped you, but what currently do you do to maintain that peace in your life? Well, you know, I do believe in the power of prayer and I, you know, I begin and end my day with prayer. In fact, I ended my book with a prayer to encourage parents when they lie on time. They talk about the covers and read to their children, which is just such a beautiful ritual to get into the habit of doing. I included a little prayer at the end of the book to maybe remind parents that that's also a very nice ritual to pray with your children before they go to bed, to I think it really helps to relax and create that peace in our little ones before they fall asleep. But for me, I guess, I really have a great love of nature, of being outside. And, you know, if there's a, you know, if there's an ocean view or a mountain view so much the better, but you can see behind me here, even just a bit of greenery to see the blue of the sky, you know, I just love, I think I feel the presence of God, most of all, walking in nature and moving, being grateful for, you know, for the health and the strength just to move and walk. I love to hike, and I love to walk, and Mark and I, this summer we did. We spent a little bit of time in my homeland in Ireland, and we hiked some pretty, you know, big mountains and some pretty stormy weather, I have to say, he was well ahead of me, but he kept turning back to check that I was okay, that I hadn't gotten blown over. And it's just something we love to do together, you know, and I think it's just, you know, people see, you know, God show up in many ways in their lives, you know, and obviously through people and the goodness of people, but I really feel that peaceful connection, you know, be still and know that I am God. I feel that most when I'm, when I'm in a natural environment. Yeah, did you, you know, just a question about your career, we've talked a lot about this in the past, but I love hearing you talk about it, and this piece of it, I don't know if I've asked you before, but obviously coming to America, entering into entertainment, did you always know you wanted to be an entertainment, you know, when you were a child, would you see yourself doing what you do now? Well, you know, it's interesting because my mom, Maureen, you know, passed when I was only 10, but she had signed me up in my very early childhood. I was in dance class. I was in music class. I was in something they called "allocation class," which is because, you know, in the neighborhood that I grew up, and, you know, people talk very fast and they talk to the very strong extent. And she often said, you know, if you've got to, you've got to enunciate, you've got to speak clearly. And so these were things, ultimately, she must have been her enthusiasm for that, must have sewn certain seeds in me, but to be honest, Billy, when I left high school and I thought that one of my talents, something I was very good at and loved to do, was to paint. And I thought I might have become a painter, which I'm sure gave my father a lot of sleep this night, because if you think it's hard for an actor to make a living, I would imagine that a painter is probably, you know, even a bit more challenging to make a living. But a very long story short, I was doing an essay on the Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh. If anybody's watching and knows his work, you may know that he really fell into mental illness and his paintings, you can see through his brushwork, it gets sort of more and more manic and, you know, as he got more and more disturbed. But he wrote a series of letters to his brother, whose name was Theo. And in one of these letters, he said Theo, he was getting more agitated, he said Theo, it's no longer enough for me to be the painter. I feel like I want to be the paint. And when I was reading this, it struck me so profoundly that my own desire to be a performer was emerging. And it was like, I didn't want to be the painter, I wanted to be the paint. I wanted to be the actor. And so, you know, I was still very young, I was a teenager, and when the opportunity came up, I did a play in Ireland with the Abbey Theatre, which is our national theatre. And that production was brought to the United States to tour anywhere that might have had an Irish connection, you know, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, New York, you know, we toured around. And I got, you know, I made some context, what I think about moving to New York. And I thought, well, what's the worst thing could happen? You know, my mom and dad were passed, you know, so I wasn't leaving old parents over there. And I thought there was the worst thing can happen. If I keep enough money for a return flight, I can always go back if I don't like it. And anyway, needless to say, it worked out, and I didn't have to go back. Well, and it's amazing. Well, I have love, I mean, I still, Irish, you know, they say you can take the girl out of Ireland, but you can't take Ireland, I think that's true. But I love America, and America has been so good to me, and I'm so incredibly grateful to this country, so I, you know, my children are all American born, and my husband and I are both American citizens. So we make our home between Southern California and the great state of Utah. Well, I will tell you, I remember you both sharing your journey to America. And really, I mean, you've both, through hard work, you've both worked very hard. You have lived the American dream in such an incredible way, and, you know, but you've inspired people along the way, both of you, and in your career from touch by an angel to the Bible, to these books, it's really been incredible to watch that and how God has used you and how you've allowed him to use the talents he's given you. And just for those who are watching, it's a message in the moon. Billie, I remember years ago, Pastor Rick Warren and Kay, who are dear friends of ours, but Pastor Rick said, "The most dangerous prayer you might ever pray is Lord, use me." He says, "Because then he just might do that," you know, and so we have prayed that prayer. We prayed that prayer all through the making of the Bible series, and AD, the Bible continues and Son of God, and all the projects that we began together with our company Lightworkers. And, you know, we just have set an intention that we want to use our talents to glorify God. And, you know, we love what we do, and it's been a great privilege to be able to do what we do. Well, Roma, as always, I appreciate everything you do, your time. The book is a message in the moon. People can go out and grab that for Christmas, for their kids, their grandkids. Exactly. Exactly. Very sweet. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Billie. I appreciate talking to you, and I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season, Merry Christmas. That's all for today's Newsmakers podcast. Be sure to tune in for the next episode of the show, and also head over to the CBN News YouTube channel and the CBN News channel to watch Newsmakers every week. We'll see you soon. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
