Actor-dancer Nora Fatehi She got candid about her personal life in a recent interview, opening up about growing up with a single mom, dealing with “daddy issues” and how it continues to affect her relationships.When asked if being raised by a single mother affected her relationship with men, Nora did not hold back. “Yes. Oh my God, so much. Let’s talk about daddy issues. I have daddy issues, I really do,” she told Lilly Singh.He explained the larger cultural context, adding, “Like many brown families, it’s hard for them to understand us…we’re a different generation, we have different goals, we want to do things differently, our mentality is different.”Speaking about immigrant homes, she said: “All my friends have this problem, not just me… They try to hold you close, and that comes from a shelter. But then you start struggling with what you’re learning outside… you come home and it feels like a completely different world.”He added that this duality can be mentally tough. “That can really challenge you mentally when you’re trying to find yourself … there’s always that fear: How are they going to feel, what are they going to say?”
‘It went away… you start to get mad at the man’
Opening up about her parents’ split, Nora shared, “They got a divorce, and she disappeared for a long time.”He admitted that the experience shaped his emotional responses. “When you see that and you get older, you start to resent the way men and women are treated.”While he acknowledged meeting “a lot of great men,” he said the influence remained profound. “When you have daddy issues, it becomes an abandonment issue. If someone doesn’t want to be with you … it’s very hard on you. It’s hard to move on.”Reflecting on her past relationships, she said, “I’ve been with people who weren’t good for me… but I didn’t take the breakups easily, because I didn’t solve my abandonment issues”.Nora added with incredible honesty, “You think, ‘It’s not her problem, it’s my problem.’ But it’s also his problem, because it comes from a man.”She continued, “I’m still dealing with that, to be honest… I’m still trying to figure out how to navigate relationships with men because I have unresolved issues with my father.”
“It took my mother 14 years to leave”
Asked if she was embarrassed about the divorce, Nora said: “Yes… actually, not anymore. Now they’re all getting divorced.’He then revealed a very personal detail. “It took my mother 14 years to leave my father. Fourteen years. Not four, not five, fourteen.”Explaining why, she said: “My grandmother, my aunts… they all told him, ‘Just be patient.’ You know that mindset: ‘Log kya kahenge?’”Questioning this societal pressure, Nora added: “We worry so much about ‘the people’… but who are those people? They don’t pay your rent… when you are sick they are not there”.He acknowledged the generational differences, “coming from a different mentality that shamed divorce: ‘What will people think?'”
“Women should be protected to protect peace”
Reflecting on what she learned on her mother’s journey, Nora emphasized independence. “I think that’s why it’s so important for a woman to take care of herself, to have a backup, to have strong foundations.”She added: “Even if she chooses to be with a man… if something goes wrong, she should be able to pick herself up and walk away to protect her peace of mind.”Nora concluded by highlighting the harsh reality that many women faced. “A lot of women couldn’t do that … so they ended up in situations they didn’t want to be in, ‘What am I going to do if I leave? I don’t have backup.'”
