Ally Shapiro Gives an Update on Her Relationship with Her Recently Found Biological Father
The daughter of RHONY’s Jill Zarin got candid about connecting with her father and newly discovered siblings.
It’s been more than two years since Jill Zarin’s daughter, Ally Shapiro, accidentally discovered that she was conceived via a sperm donor. Naturally, this meant Ally’s dad, Steven Shapiro, was not her biological father — however, neither was the sperm donor Jill and Steven had initially chosen.
Ally learned this when she got a 23&Me message from a different sperm donor who was later confirmed to be her biological father, meaning there had been some sort of mix-up at the clinic. And despite the initial confusion — made more complicated by the fact that Ally had already connected with the people she thought were her half-siblings, only for them to not be related to her at all — Ally and her newly discovered father quickly hit it off.
“We quickly started emailing [and] I’ve been emailing him over the years,” Ally shared on the Tamron Hall Show on October 24. “I emailed him telling him I was coming here today. He wants to keep his privacy, but he is open to meeting with me.”
Ally admitted she’s not “ready” for that quite yet, but she was ready to get to know the four half-sisters she learned she had through him.
“One of them I’ve become very close with,” Ally said. “She was born in Manhattan, moved to upstate New York pretty quickly. Her mom is a single mom, so she knew her whole life. And I think some people do know their whole lives that their mom used a sperm donor, so my case was different, which is why I think I have less of this desire to meet him, because so much of this wasn’t in my control. I feel like finally this is in my control when I can meet him, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Jill, for her part, felt “relief” when Ally inadvertently made the discovery about her father. “I was more afraid of Allyson’s reaction,” The Real Housewives of New York City alum said. “My feelings were a mirror of hers, so if she become hysterical, I was going to be hysterical. If she took it like she did, then I was OK.”
“After that initial shock, then I think we just got closer pretty quickly because of it,” Ally added. “I was never mad… She had me out of love.”
Watch The Real Housewives of New York City on Peacock and the Bravo app. You can also catch Jill on The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip on Peacock.
