Rita Wilson reveals father had secret family in Bulgaria before her birth

Rita Wilson recounts a painful chapter of her family’s past.

Recently “How to Fail with Elizabeth Day” podcast, the actor shared that before he met his mother, his father had a wife and child in Bulgaria.

“I produced this show; it’s a British show called ‘Who Do You Think You Are’,” the 69-year-old actor said. he said. “Usually on these genealogy shows, they go back many, many generations. But they found my father’s story to be so shocking and extraordinary that they stuck with his story.”

The star also recalled that she went to Bulgaria for the show and after visiting the Hall of Records, news about her father’s secret family came to light.

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Learning that he had a sibling he didn’t know existed before, Wilson was filled with excitement at the prospect of meeting a new family member. He then quickly learned about his father’s tragic past.

“My father’s first wife, whose name was Alice, gave birth on December 26th and died three days later from complications resulting from childbirth,” Wilson said. “His son and my father’s son, Emil, lived for four months. This was right after the war, and then he passed away. I don’t know his name, but it was like an infection.”

The “Now and Then” star later revealed that both she and her sister gave birth to one of their children on December 26, telling the podcast host in retrospect: “I think about my dad celebrating all those birthdays and knowing that he had a child, Emil, who was born on December 26 and passed away.”

Wilson’s father died in 2009 at the age of 89, and he never told the actor or other family members about his previous life.

Rita Wilson’s father died in 2009 at the age of 89. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

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“I still can’t get over it. He didn’t tell us anything,” she explained. “I wish I could talk to him about it. They were keeping everything very secretive.”

He had previously discussed this family secret during an interview on “Bobby ActorPodcast in October 2022. In the interview, he shared that he tried to escape Bulgaria “following the death of his wife and son.” I think it’s pure unhappiness.”

The Patriarch was captured during his escape attempt and sent to a labor camp. He managed to escape with a fellow inmate after fooling a guard during the night shift. Wilson stated that they “eventually escaped” [and] “They set out for Türkiye.”

“My dad got a job shoveling coal on a freighter and went to Philadelphia and jumped ship,” he said. “But what he did was he took Richard along as a stowaway, because Richard had no job. And so, he was pretty much stuck in the engine room. And Richard and my father went to America.”

Rita Wilson’s father got a job on a freighter and jumped ship when he arrived in Philadelphia. (Phil McCarten/CBS via Getty Images)

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Eventually Wilson’s father met and married his mother. They had three children, including Wilson, his sister Lily, and brother Chris.

Wilson found success as an actress and married Oscar winner Tom Hanks in April 1988. They have two sons, Chet and Truman Hanks. She is also the stepmother of his two children, Colin and Elizabeth, from his previous marriage.

Rita Wilson married Hanks in April 1988, and the couple has since had two children. (Variety via Michael Buckner/Getty Images)

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