Rita Wilson discusses late father's secret past during media appearance

• Rita Wilson discovers her father had a secret wife and child in Bulgaria.
• Hassan Halilov Ibrahimoff never disclosed his tragic past to his American family.
• The discovery was made during the filming of a genealogy television programme in 2012.
  

Rita Wilson has candidly discussed the discovery of her late father’s secret family during a recent appearance on the "How to Fail with Elizabeth Day" podcast.

The actress recalled the moment she first learned that her father, Hassan Halilov Ibrahimoff, had a wife and child in his native Bulgaria before moving to the United States.

This revelation initially came to light in 2012 while she was participating in the documentary series "Who Do You Think You Are?".

Wilson remarked, "What they found with my dad was that his story was so shocking and unusual that they stuck with his story."

The investigation revealed that Wilson’s father lost his first wife, Alice, during the birth of their son, Emil. Tragically, the infant also passed away from an infection four months after his birth on 26 December.

Reflecting on her father’s silence, Wilson admitted, "I still can’t get over that," noting that he "never said anything to us. I wish I could have talked to him about that."

She found a poignant connection in the fact that her sister’s firstborn was also "born on Dec. 26," a date her father celebrated for years while holding the private memory of his lost son.

"I think if we were all more open with each other, then we all can see that we’re all in the same boat," Wilson noted, encouraging greater transparency within families.

Wilson and her husband, Tom Hanks, are parents to four children: Colin, Elizabeth, Chet, and Truman. She continues to support various philanthropic causes and has recently focused on her career as a singer-songwriter.