Ted Williams, the homeless man with the pitch-perfect voice, finally saw his mother today, the first time the two have been together in about 20 years, according to a new report.
With the voice that has quickly become famous, Williams said, “Mama, mama” as he rushed to his mother in a Manhattan conference room, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
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“My prodigal son has finally come home,” his mother Julia said.
The reunion follows Williams’ rapid rise to fame via a clip from the Dispatch that found millions of viewers on YouTube.
A Dispatch reporter saw Williams, who was born in Brooklyn, panhandling beside an Ohio highway with a sign saying he the God-given gift of a radio voice so he stopped by with a video camera. Sure enough, Williams sounded as if someone had turned on a radio when he spoke.
The publicity led to a spot on a Columbus radio station yesterday, which caused one job offer after another to pour in. Among others, Williams is weighing a job with the Cleveland Cavaliers as an announcer. The Cavs also offered him a house.
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Then today Williams was on the “Today” show, which he opened with the famous line, “From NBC News, this is Today with Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira, live from studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza!”
Other TV appearances followed.
His mother, meanwhile, was on CBS’ “Early Show.”
But it wasn’t until this afternoon — following wrangling between TV networks — that Williams finally saw his mother again.
Julia Williams, 90, of Brooklyn, seemed most concerned about whether Williams, whose radio career was derailed by drugs and alcohol, had actually turned his life around, the Dispatch reported.
Ted Williams, 53, promised that he had.
On the “Today” show this morning, he said he was ready to deal with his celebrity.
“This time around, I have God,” he said. “I was ready to mark 2010 as another year wasted until I realized that I’d found a new sense of spirituality.”
“The difference between my successes of years gone by: I didn’t acknowledge the Lord or thank him for anything before, you know?” he said. “And I have had some great opportunities.”
Williams has said that he has prayed that his mother would live long enough to see him come back from substance abuse and homelessness.