'I lost two fathers within one lifetime': Dia Mirza recalls pain, memories of childhood

Bollywood actor Dia Mirza often takes to her social media account to give her fans and followers a glimpse into her personal as well as professional life. She is currently taking the initial steps as a parent, after becoming a mother to a son. Her parents also played a major role in the person that Dia has become today. While she is close to her mother, Deepa Mirza, the actor had a tough time growing up as she lost both her father and stepfather. 

Dia Mirza opens up on losing her father and stepfather

Dia recently opened up about her fathers in an interview with Bollywood Hungama. She shared that her biological father, Frank Hendrich, who was from Germany and Dia's mother, who is from Bengal, had separated. The RHTDM star still has fond memories of his workshops with teachers through newspaper clippings, as well as his paintings and sculptures.

He died when she was just nine. "It took me some time to not just accept that he was no more but is like closure nahi mila, because I didn’t see him, I didn’t see his body, I didn’t fully understand that he was gone and I would never see him again,” she said,

Dia explained how her stepfather Ahmed Mirza never tried to take place of his father Frank Hendrich. She said, "Unfortunately, I lost him as well, when I was 23, and that was a huge, huge, huge loss because I think whatever said and done, the security blanket that a father figure gives you in life, nobody else can. When you lose a father that young, and I had lost two fathers within one lifetime, it’s very hard".

Talking about her step-father, the actor calls him a 'remarkable man' for imparting the values that had a good effect on her life.

"We had a very beautiful relationship that started off as a friendship. Then I think as I grew older and I recognised that I had spent more years of my life with him, and him as a parent, he just became more and more my father, and that’s why I took on his surname when I joined the Miss India pageant".

On the work front, Dia will be seen alongside Ratna Pathak Shah, Fatima Sana Shaikh, and Sanjana Sanghi in the project Dhak Dhak. Directed by Tarun Dudeja, the film will hit theatres in 2023. It is co-produced by Taapsee Pannu. She also has Anubhav Sinha's upcoming project Bheed alongside Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar in the pipeline.