Rita Wilson was left speechless when she learned on a 2012 genealogy show that her father, Allan Wilson, had a secret second family.
During Wednesday’s episode of the “How to Fail” podcast, the actress recalled the “shocking and unusual” circumstances of her father’s first marriage during an English genealogy show called “Who Do You Think You Are?”
Noting that “those genealogy shows” can “go back many, many generations,” the “Sleepless in Seattle” star, 69, explained that her father Allan “was married and he had a child” in Bulgaria before moving to the United States.
“I said, ‘Am I going to meet someone? Am I going to meet a family?’” she recalled asking.
Wilson explained that “It was a little boy,” but shared that producers told her “no,” she would not be meeting a family.
According to the “Now and Then” actress, her father had married a woman, Alice, who died several days after giving birth to a son they named Emil.
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Tragically, Emil also died four months later. Rita shared that she learned the family was “so poor.”
“It was right after the war [in] Bulgaria,” she said. “I don’t know how they would have afforded formula or something, but I’m sure they made ways.”
Rita said the months-old infant “didn’t die from starvation,” but instead perished after suffering an infection.
Rita’s father later tied the knot with her mother, Dorothy Wilson, and together the couple welcomed Rita, Chris, and Lily Wilson.
The actress — who married Oscar winner Tom Hanks in 1988 — lamented how her parents had been “so private” about the matter. “He never said anything to us,” she said. “I wish I could have talked to him about that.”
The mom of two sons also said her parents were “uneducated, but they were incredibly smart and incredibly intuitive and very hardworking [and had] incredible values.”
The actress shared that she was in awe of her father, who had “supported a family” and “bought a house” while working as a bartender.
“He never had debt in his life. He and my mom were married for 59 years, and they were an incredible couple and incredible parents,” Rita gushed.
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