Actor Ayako Sawada appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on March 14th. The 76-year-old, who is celebrating her 52nd year in show business this year, talked about the inside story of her secret childbirth in the United States.
Through an introduction from Mitsuko Mori, I joined the agency that Mori and Kuroyanagi belonged to. I remember thinking it was an amazing agency.
Regarding the circumstances that led to her secretly giving birth in the United States and choosing to be an unmarried mother, she said, "I can't go into detail, but I was young at the time." It was a time when she wanted to have a child. She told her agency's president, Yoshida, "Actually, I want a child."
When I thought I would give up and continue on this path if the president said it was no good, he said, "You should give birth. In return, only you and I will know about it. I won't tell Mitsuko Mori or Kuroyanagi. I'll lie and say I'm going to New York to study." After that, the president made the arrangements.
I received a letter from Kuroyanagi wishing me the best of luck in Seattle, USA, where he believes I am studying.
"It was bold, but I was young and foolish, so I thought I'd give it a go, and that if Yoshida was with me, it would be okay." She gave birth to a daughter and is the mother of one child. Her granddaughter is 3 years old. She lives in Hawaii with her husband, a third-generation Japanese-American.
