The 19-year-old daughter of actor Robert Blake and his murdered spouse, Bonnie Lee Bakley, is speaking out for the first time about her family.
Rose Lenore was just 11 months old in May 2001 when her mother was fatally shot in Studio City, California, in a car belonging to Blake.
Although Blake was acquitted of Bakley’s murder in 2005, a civil trial later found him responsible for her death.
Lenore’s half-sister raised her in Sherman Oaks, California, and she had no contact with her father since she was 5.
That changed earlier this year, when Lenore reached out to Blake.
“I haven’t really felt ready until now. As a kid, I had a really private life, and now I am an adult and I think it is time,” she told “Inside Edition.”
Part of the reason she wanted the meeting is because Blake is currently 86 years old, and she didn’t know how much more time he had left.
Still, that first meeting was ”a lot to take in” for Lenore, who said, “We did not hug.”
Lenore also wanted to avoid talking about her mother, saying she “wasn’t ready to handle that.”
She said she refers to the actor as “Robert” and not “Dad.”
Lenore is now embarking on an acting career and hopes going public will help her take control of the narrative surrounding her life, according to People.
“It’s hard when everyone talks about you and you’re not talking about yourself,” she told the magazine.“I am now.”
As part of her look back, Lenore visited her mother’s grave near the Hollywood Hills.
“I kind of didn’t know where she was buried for the longest time,” she told People. “I could have just looked it up, but I didn’t. I just don’t think I was ready. And then when I was 18, I was like, ‘I’m ready. I want to go visit her.’”
Although Lenore said she doesn’t think about her mother’s death, she is open to finding out the truth about what happened “if it’s ever an option.”
“I feel like anyone would want to know the answer,” she told “Good Morning America.”
“I think I’ve gone 19 years not knowing. If all of a sudden I knew whether or not he killed her, that would be shocking.”
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