Years after the Buss family had settled into their public roles, a moment changed everything. In December 2018, Jeanie Buss received a letter from a woman named Lee Klose, unaware of what was coming next. The 2022 Lakers documentary Legacy later revealed the truth behind it. Dr. Jerry Buss and JoAnn Mueller had given up an older daughter for adoption, a revelation that reshaped the family’s understanding of its own history.

Mystery sibling: Lee Klose

Lee Klose entered the world in 1953 as the first child of Jerry Buss and JoAnn Mueller, long before wealth entered the picture. However, limited finances shaped a painful choice, leading to her adoption. During a conversation with Graham Bessinger in 2023, the Lakers‘ governor addressed the existence of an elder sibling. She said her mother shared the truth after Jerry Buss passed away in 2013.

“When my dad passed away in 2013, my mom called me, and she was at the beginning of her dementia,” Jeanie recalled. “She told me the story about when they were first married that they had given up a child for adoption, and she said that they gave away the child because she was a girl.”

JoAnn’s Alzheimer’s clouded that moment, causing early doubt in Buss’s mind. Years later, official adoption records confirmed Lee Klose as the child of Jerry Buss and JoAnn Mueller.

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Klose’s search for her roots

Now based in Sedona, Lee Klose described a childhood shaped by constant motion across Arizona and California, often along Interstate 10. Raised by Jimmy and Mattie, frequent relocations defined her early years. By age 15, she had lived in 15 homes and studied at 12 campuses. Somehow, everything felt ordinary. Until a moment in third-grade.

Klose got into trouble, and her teacher told her to stand outside the classroom door. At this moment, another teacher entered the room, and young Klose happened to eavesdrop.

“One of my teachers said, ‘Well, you know, she’s adopted.’ And that was the moment in my life that everything changed,” Klose narrated. “Because I went, ‘What does that mean? You know, what’s wrong with me? Why did she say that?’ And from that moment, it was a wound.”

Throughout childhood, Lee Klose pressed her adoptive parents with questions and often imagined physical similarities to her mother. Adopted at age 40 by Jimmy and Mattie, they felt older than her. Therefore, restlessness followed. She pushed boundaries and sought meaning, driven by repeated questions about her identity.

While her adoptive sister felt content, Klose carried a deeper curiosity and emotional pull that never eased. As a result, she began tracing her origins.

In 1990, she visited the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Sacramento, California, only to learn her birth record remained sealed. Then, on January 4, 1991, unedited details arrived. They revealed married parents, a chemistry-educated father citing time and money limits, and a mother who wished to keep her. Later, DNA results finally led her to an aunt.

Jerry Buss didn’t keep his promise after Lee Klose’s adoption

Right after Lee Klose’s adoption, JoAnn sought a promise that Jerry Buss would have no other children. He accepted. Eventually, their marriage ended in 1972, closing one chapter while leaving lasting emotional echoes.

Years later, Jeanie learned of that promise directly from JoAnn. She recalled her mother’s deep hurt when Buss had two sons, Joey and Jesse, with Karen Demel in the mid 1980s. Still, time softened the strain. JoAnn ultimately stood by Buss and embraced the boys.

The timing of when Jeanie learned about the agreement between JoAnn and her father remains uncertain. However, during a 2019 phone conversation with Jesse, several informed sources say the discussion veered sharply away from the Davis press event. At that point, she raised the matter directly. Therefore, what began as routine basketball talk shifted into a deeply significant personal exchange.

In light of her parents’ promise, Jeanie told Jesse, “You should’ve never been born.” Jesse Buss absorbed the message, according to three people familiar with the call. However, separation among the siblings had long existed. Four older children and two younger ones rarely aligned. A 31-year gap stood between Johnny and Jesse. Moreover, the elders recalled an often-absent father, while Joey and Jesse arrived after the family fortune was already secure.

One letter rewrote a dynasty. Therefore, the Buss family story expanded beyond banners and boardrooms into memory, loss, and reckoning. Lee Klose brought truth where silence once lived. Meanwhile, old promises resurfaced, and old wounds reopened. Yet through shock and strain, recognition followed. Legacy became human, unfinished, and far more complicated than anyone expected.