Dawson’s paternal quest

The actress’s dad walked out on her mom when she became pregnant with Dawson at age 17.

Rosario Dawson has some daddy issues, said Henry Barnes in The Guardian (U.K.). The actress’s dad walked out on her mom when she became pregnant with Dawson at age 17. Dawson, who is of Native American, Irish, Puerto Rican, and Afro-Cuban descent, was raised in downtown Manhattan by her mom and a loving stepfather, construction worker Greg Dawson, whom she calls “a hero.” She explains: “He chose me and wanted me.” As a child, she didn’t give a lot of thought to her missing father, but as an adult, Dawson, 33, began to wonder what had become of him. “I did a session with a psychic,” she says. “She told me that my dad was dead and was speaking to me from beyond the grave. That was really wild.” Curious to find out if the clairvoyant was right, she hired a private investigator, who told her that her father was, in fact, dead. “We think he died in 2001,” she says. “If he passed, I’m sad about that. But in some ways, I think I’m slightly relieved. It’s Pandora’s box you’re opening. It would have been weird to have to feel like I needed to create a relationship [with him].”

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