DALLAS, TEXAS: Chuck Norris has cemented his legacy as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. In his decades-long career, the 83-year-old American martial artist, actor, film producer, and screenwriter charmed audiences with his prowess in martial arts on-screen. He carved a niche for himself with his marvelous portrayal in blockbuster movies including ‘Way of the Dragon’, ‘Breaker! Breaker!’, ‘Good Guys Wear Black’, ‘Lone Wolf McQuade’, ‘The Delta Force’, ‘The Hitman’, and many others.
In addition to being a renowned action star, Norris is also a devoted family man, who knows lives a quiet life while bonding with his grandchildren on his private ranch. Before becoming a superstar, Norris was a full-time martial-art teacher. The actor was only 10 when his mother divorced his alcoholic father and moved to California. In 1958, Norris married his high school sweetheart Dianne Holchek and then went on to join US Air Force. He was stationed at the Osan Air Base in South Korea, which is where his love for martial arts began. In 1962, the actor left the military to begin working as a karate instructor, according to Women Working.
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Why was Norris unaware of his daughter for 26 years?
After leaving the military, the ‘Missing in Action’ star cheated on his wife, which resulted in an out-of-wedlock child, whom he didn’t know about until much later in life. In his biography ‘Against All Odds’, Norris revealed that he found out about his daughter only in 1991 when he received a letter from Dina, who claimed to be his biological daughter. Norris claimed in his book that the guilt he felt for lying to Dina's mother, Johanna, has never left him. "To my shame, I never told Johanna that I was married,” he wrote.
As per the memoir, Norris first met Johanna when he was stationed in California in the US Air Force. They had a brief fling, which only lasted for a week. For more than two decades, Johanna tried to withhold the information from Norris and her daughter, fearing that it would be devastating to both. But Dina finally learned about his father when she heard her mother talking about Norris to a friend. As a result, she contacted Norris, who agreed to meet with her and Johanna. "Johanna later confirmed to Dina that I was her biological father but that I was married and had children and she shouldn't disrupt my life,” Norris wrote in his book.
'I didn't need DNA or blood tests'
Even though he found out about Dina years later, Norris had no doubt that she was his own blood. "I didn't need DNA or blood tests. I went to her, wrapped my arms around her, and we both started crying. At that moment, it was as if I had known her all my life,” Norris wrote in his memoir, according to Amomama. By the time he learned about Dina, his marriage to Holechek had already collapsed. The former couple decided to go their separate ways in 1988. Almost a decade after his marriage ended, he again tied the knot with his second wife Gena O'Kelley in 1998. He was a dad to three kids with his first wife and O'Kelley gave birth to twins in 2001.