Dia Mirza says she took stepfather's surname

 
Dia Mirza opened up about her past, and shared what her childhood was like in a recent interview. The actor shared what her late biological father Frank Hendrich and her late stepfather Ahmed Mirza were like, and the relationship she shared with them. Dia also revealed why she took her stepfather's surname before she entered the Miss India pageant.

Dia was born in Hyderabad. While her late father was of German origin, her mother Deepa Mirza is Bengali. After participating in Miss India, and later being crowned Miss Asia Pacific 2000 at the age of 18, Dia made her debut in Bollywood with Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein (2001). The film also featured R Madhavan and Saif Ali Khan. In a recent interview, Dia spoke about changing her surname from Hendrich to Mirza.

"I loved my stepfather; he was a remarkable man. A lot of what I have learned in life especially the values that have held me in good stead, and this is something I can vouch for, are all values that he gave me. We had a very beautiful relationship that started off as friendship. Then I think as I grew older and I recognised that I had spent more years of my life with him, and him as a parent, he just became more and more my father, and that's why I took on his surname when I joined the Miss India pageant," Dia told Bollywood Hungama.