It's deeply personal for MercyMe lead singer Bart Millard to see the film "I Can Only Imagine," which is based on the Christian band's same-titled song, as the movie is about his relationship with father, Arthur Millard.
Bart told The Christian Post that the movie did well portraying his father's redemption story and they managed to capture the emotions he felt while growing up. However, Millard was admittedly worried about one thing - his mother Adele's reaction to the movie.
After all, she was also privy to the same emotional, verbal, and physical abuse he endured as a young boy. Adele left Bart behind out of fear for her own life, but Arthur transformed because of God's help. Arthur actually became Bart's biggest hero before he died and his relationship with Adele was even restored.
"My mom is a very huge part of my life now and when I was watching the movie I was really scared because I didn't really realize how much of a victim she really was. She feared for her life and she had to get out," he said.
Bart said that the first draft of the script was actually harsh on his mother, because he had a lot of resentment growing up without her. In the end, he made some revisions and considered her own plight too. It was still difficult to watch, but Bart felt the narrative was more accurate.
"I was nervous. I thought, 'This is gonna kill my mom when she sees this.' It was hard to let go and actually let the story play out," he said.
But her reaction was surprisingly positive. "She just kept saying, 'Yeah, that's how it happened, that's right,'" Bart shared. "She actually loved the movie. She told me, 'I'm heartbroken that I wasn't a bigger part of it, but that's what happened. I was so scared for my life and I'm so glad that we have each other now.'"
