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Formerly homeless teen and her mom leave Lionel Richie in tears during emotional ‘American Idol’ audition

19-year-old Ronda Felton couldn’t hold back her tears or utter a word as the judges gazed upon her in anticipation

Lionel Richie couldn’t hold back his tears after Ronda Felton’s emotional ‘American Idol’ audition. The 19-year-old contestant was overwhelmed with emotions, reflecting on her tough journey that led to the audition. She couldn’t hold back her tears or utter a word as the judges gazed upon her in anticipation. “It’s definitely been hard. But you just keep on moving,” she said, wiping her tears. When the judges asked what got her so emotional, the teen revealed that it was “happy tears,” and getting the opportunity on the show meant the world to her.

The audition cut to her introductory video, in which she spoke about her troubled past. “Growing up, it was definitely rough for my mom and I,” the contestant confessed. Her mother was a single mom with “no money,” despite having multiple jobs. Felton revealed that they were “homeless” and had to live in shelters or “off of people’s couches and cars.” The montage also included clips of Felton with her mother, who has been her only pillar of support. “It was pretty tough, but I had my mom, so it was ok. She did anything that helped us survive,”  the contestant added.

“Don’t you ever stop fighting like you say you see me do. From the shelters, get up and fight. From the cars get up and fight,” Felton’s mother advised her. Having faced hardships as a kid, the contestant certainly had a lot of pain that she channeled in her song. She performed Jenifer Hudson’s ‘One Night Only’ and showcased her powerful vocal prowess. During her performance, the ‘All Night Long’ hitmaker started welling up, and by the end, he was wiping tears off his eyes. “I was doing really well until you came and did something that no one has done tonight, which is touched me to the point of making me cry,” Richie confessed.

The judge assured her that she found the light at the end of a tunnel by being on the ‘American Idol’ stage. He told Felton that the stage would “change her life” for the better. Judge Katy Perry admitted that singing has been a saving grace for her, same as Felton. She assured the contestant that she could go a long way just by being herself. “You don’t have to be strong. You just gotta be Ronda and that will take you all the way,” the ‘Roar’ singer added. After getting three yesses from everyone, including Luke Bryan, the contestant ran out of the audition room to bring her mom on stage.

When Perry announced that her daughter was going to Hollywood, she burst into tears of joy. The Milwaukee native reached pretty far in the competition but was unfortunately eliminated after the “Showstopper” rounds during Hollywood Week. Nevertheless, Felton had quite a journey from being homeless to performing on a globally recognized stage. “This whole experience I just had to prove something to myself, which I did, so I don’t think that I failed at all,” she said in an ‘American Idol’ episode, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.