Chuck Norris got the shock of his life in 1991 when he found out he fathered a child during an affair.
The late actor cheated on his first wife, Dianne Holechek, with another unnamed woman, which resulted in the birth of Norris’ daughter, Dina, in 1964.
Norris had no idea Dina, now 62, existed for the next 26 years, until she reached out to her famous father.
“I was going through my mail at home and I see this letter and I open it up,” Norris recalled in a 2004 interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“It’s from Dina … and she says, ‘I’m your daughter from a past experience,’ and she said, ‘I found out you were my father when I was 16, but my mother said you were married and we shouldn’t interfere with your family.’”
In his 2004 memoir, “Against All Odds: My Story,” Norris said that he read the letter to his mother, who agreed to meet with Dina first, per the Daily Mail.
And after they did so at her home, Norris’ mom called up her son and told him to come over immediately.
“I walked into the living room and nearly had my breath knocked out of me,” Norris wrote in his book.
“There, standing before me, was a beautiful young lady,” he said about Dina. “I was stunned, but the moment I saw her, I knew. I didn’t need DNA or blood tests; there was no doubt in my mind that she was my daughter.”
Norris added that after the pair hugged and started crying, he felt “as if I had known her all of her life.”
After their first encounter, Norris and Dina forged an extremely close relationship.
“I am blessed to have her as my daughter,” he penned in the memoir. ‘Certainly, I know now that God does not condone premarital or extramarital sexual relationships. But I’ve also discovered that there is no such thing as an ‘illegitimate child.’”
“Every baby is legitimate in God’s eyes; every child is precious in his sight.”
Three years before he heard from Dina, Norris split from Holecheck after 30 years of marriage. The exes had two sons together: Mike, now 63, and Eric, now 60.
Norris wrote in his book that Dina decided to reach out to him after learning he was divorced.
“It was then that she decided to write to me with the approval of her husband, Damien,” the martial artist shared.
Dina is still married to Damien, with whom he shares three children.
They all appeared in one of Norris’ Facebook photos from a 2015 family vacation to Hawaii.
“Here’s another family photo from Kauai. This time with our daughter Dina, her husband Damien and their boys Dante & Eli,” Norris captioned the post.
In 1998, Norris married his second wife, Gena O’Kelley, with whom he welcomed twins Dakota and Danilee, now 24.
The twins each shared tributes to the Hollywood star after he suddenly died on Thursday at age 86.
Dakota wrote on Instagram that he looked up to Norris his “whole life.”
“Your generosity, your kindness, your courage, your integrity, your strength, your discipline, and your faith in the Lord were just a handful of things I always admired about you,” Dakota said.
Meanwhile, Danilee called her “sweet father” her “protector,” and admitted that “losing a parent is something that you are never prepared for.”
“My dad loved so deeply and cared for every single person in his life with so much tenderness,” she wrote in her tribute.
Norris’ family announced on Friday that he died the previous morning after suffering a medical emergency in Hawaii.
“To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family.”
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