All about Mandy Moore’s parents: Moore’s parents divorced after her mom came out as a lesbian

Mandy Moore plays Rebecca Pearson in the tearjerker, This Is Us. Rebecca and Mandy share several similarities, including that they are both parents. Mandy recently became a parent to her first child in February 2021. We are certain that she would love to raise the boy in a stable home – a home mimicking the one her parents provided for 30 years.  

Moore’s parents raised their children in a stable and supportive home. It, therefore, surprised Moore and her siblings when their parents filed for divorce after three decades of marriage. 

Mandy Moore was born on 10th April 1984 in Nashua, New Hampshire, to Stacy and Donald Moore. Her parents raised her Catholic, but she no longer practices the religion. 

Moore was the first one in her family to discover Stacy’s plan to divorce Donald. It happened after Mandy bought two laptops for her parents for Christmas. As she set up her mom’s device, she clicked on a draft email addressed to her and her brothers. 

Her discovery changed the Christmas mood on the family’s trip to North Carolina. “It was basically telling us how she had fallen in love with a friend and was going to leave dad,” Moore told Glamour. 

Mandy instinctively supported her dad, but through therapy, she understood her mom’s decision. “At the time I was left with no choice but to compartmentalize what was happening,” Mandy added. 

Moore’s brothers, Scott and Kyle, took the news hard. Scott told Access Hollywood: “Of course, it was surprising when it happened because you never expect it. So, of course it took some time to get through it. Now it’s been well over a decade – for us it’s old news.”

Moore’s brothers also came out as gay. After nearly everybody in his family came out, Donald half-expected Mandy to confess to something surprising. 

In 2017, Mandy told People that her mom and brothers coming out brought the family closer as it eliminated any secrets between them. She said:

“Nobody is hiding who they are. There are no secrets in our lives. I love and support my mom and my brothers with my whole heart. And nothing makes me happier than seeing anybody live their authentic self, and to choose love. If anyone can find love, I support it, I salute you and I celebrate that.”

Mandy is confident that we’ll get to a point where sexual orientation doesn’t matter anymore. “I’m encouraged and excited that eventually we’re going to get to a point where none of this matters,” she added. “I think we’re inching closer to that.”

Mandy was only two months old when her family moved to Longwood, Florida, due to her father’s job as an airline pilot. Moore’s mom secured a position as a reporter for The Orlando Sentinel, headquartered in nearby Orlando.

Donald stuck with the job that inspired the move to Florida for the next four decades. Mandy wrote on Instagram that Donald’s 42-year stint with the company ended after he hit the mandatory retirement age of 65. She wrote:

“To have spent 2/3 of your life at one job; to have raised 3 children and made a living doing something you’re so deeply passionate about is an absolute gift. I hope you’re proud, Dad… because there are so many of us who sure are celebrating this milestone.”

Moore added that she’s looking forward to the extra hours Donald will spend with his grandson. “Can’t wait for your next chapter and all of the unfiltered grandpa time Gus is about to experience,” Moore added. “We LOVE YOU!!!”

Mandy’s love for the stage and performance stemmed from her maternal grandmother, Eileen Friedman, who was a professional ballerina in London. Moore told Seminole Magazine:

“I guess I had a bit of the performer in my blood because of her. She was always my biggest fan, even as a kid. She was always thrilled to see me on stage. She was definitely always a great support system in my life.”

Mandy was only fifteen when she gained fame via her breakout hit Candy. She faced a lot of pressure and temptations as a child star, but she survived the early fame thanks to the values she drew from her parents. Moore explained:

“I guess you just have to say that it’s a testament to my parents and the way I was raised. I feel very lucky to be in this position and have this opportunity. I think I have enough wits about me to not jeopardize that in any way. I’m happy to be doing this, and want to be doing this as long as I can.”

Mandy Moore has European roots stretching to England, Scotland, Ireland, and Russia. During an episode of Who Do You Think You Are, Mandy learned that her four times great grandmother, Mary, passed away in a local workhouse in Ireland. 

Historian Turtle Bunbury told Mandy that Mary and her daughters retreated to the workhouses after a devastating famine hit the country. The unhygienic conditions in the workhouses caused many illness-related deaths. “They were death traps,” Turtle said. 

“To know that my four times great grandmother passed away in a place like this and the horrific conditions you described, is really… it’s just very tragic,” Mandy said. 

Mandy laid flowers at the location where the workhouse once stood. “I’m honored and humbled that I could be a representative of the family to just tell her that she’s not forgotten,” Moore said. “I can feel her. I can feel the energy of everybody that’s here, but definitely I can feel her.”

Mary’s daughter Ellen survived the famine by traveling to Australia with her husband. “It sounds like her life was so perilous in Ireland that this was a far better option than staying home,” Mandy said. “It makes so much more sense now.”

Ellen raised five children before her death in 1909. It’s thanks to Ellen’s choices that Mandy is alive today. “I wouldn’t be here,” Mandy said, “I would not exist, had it not been for the way in which Ellen led her life.”