Zoe Saldana reveals impact of dad's death and feeling 'like an alien in her own skin'

Zoe Saldaña was rocked by dad’s death and “felt like an alien in her own skin”.

The 44-year-old actress has reflected on her father Aridio Saldaña’s passing in 1987 after he died in a car accident, while she moved with her family from New York to the Dominican Republic where everything was “always new and changing, changing, changing”.

As shared by E! News, she told emmy magazine: “There’s no winter, no Santa Claus, no grapes or apples—it’s mango and guavas.

“These sound like small things, but they add up in a day. It was hard… I’ve always felt like an alien in my own skin.

“It’s like I’m on the outside looking in, and I really started to feel it after we lost our dad.”

The ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ star recalled the moment her grandmother broke the heartbreaking news that her dad had died, and she can still remember the devastating moment.

She added: “I remember her drinking coffee and saying, ‘We’re going to get through this. Papa wants us to get through this.

“‘But please understand this part of life: death came knocking and took one of us.’ ”

Zoe has used her real life experience with grief to help her role in Netflix’s upcoming series ‘From Scratch’, which is adapted from Tembi Locke’s memoir of the same name about the untimely loss of her husband.

She said: “It was all of those things that Tembi wrote about, but [viewed] through a childlike lens.

“Losing our hero, the strongest person in the room, who walked on water, and then seeing how our gorgeous, strong mom just fell apart and couldn’t get out of bed to take us to school.”

Meanwhile, the proud mum – who has twins Bowie and Cy, seven, and another son Zen, five, with her husband Marco Perego – previously admitted she became “obsessed” with her family during the coronavirus pandemic.

She explained: “I am obsessed with my family. Until now, we were the ’20 minute family’ – always running off to school, to karate practice, or to work.

“Then suddenly the waters calmed, the mu stopped, and the phones stopped ringing. It was very raw and very beautiful. I want to be home, because that role is becoming more real to me. I’m becoming more passionate about it than any other role I can play.”