United Kingdom, April 23 -- Rita Wilson was "shocked" to learn that her late dad had a secret family.

The 69-year-old actress discovered that Allan Wilson - born Hassan Halilov Ibrahimoff - had a wife named Alice and a child called Emil in his native Bulgaria before he emigrated to the United States, during an appearance on the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? in 2012.

Sleepless in Seattle star Rita - who grew up in Los Angeles with Allan, his wife Dorothy and her siblings, Lily and Chris - recalled the family secret on the latest episode of the How to Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast.

Rita said: "What they found with my dad was that his story was so shocking and unusual that they stuck with his story.

She was informed that A...