London: Actress Zoe Saldana says hearing the word daddy is like a knife to her heart, as she has never gotten over the loss of her own father.
The 34-year-old `Star Trek: Into Darkness` actress tragically lost her father, Aridio, in a car crash when she was just nine and has never gotten over the loss, reported Contactmusic.
"I know the older I get I romanticise him more and more, but he was very beautiful and very disciplined. It was hard - since I was nine I`ve never been able to say `Dad`," Saldana said.
"And I`ve had a stepfather since I was very young who I adore and he knows how much we love him. But he`s not my dad. So when I hear little people day, `Daddy`, it is always like a knife in your heart. And you always walk this earth with that broken little wing."
Saldana`s mother, Asalia, moved her and her two sisters from New York to their father`s birthplace of the Dominican Republic shortly after the accident and despite initially struggling, she was able to give them all a good upbringing.
"My mum knew there wasn`t going to be a protector, a big bear in our lives. She needed to raise us as the mum and dad - and she did. She raised three women that are very male. My mum did not ever condition us to believe that we were half without a man," she added.
PTI