Patty Duke Admits She Lied About Sean Astin Parentage

[TMC]

In her latest memoir (it was published posthumously. Patty Duke was working on it before she died), Patty Duke admits she lied in her first book about Sean Astin parentage. In her first book, she claimed John Astin was the biological father of Sean during a brief affair they had, while she was seeing Desi Arnaz Jr,

In her new book, she admits that was a lie. She and John Astin first met when Sean was six months. Long after she had her 12-day marriage to Michael Tell annulled. In her mind, she never consummated the marriage with Michael Tell. So that left Desi as the father.

However Desi was not around, but John Astin was. In her words, John was the one who fed Sean, changed his diapers, and was there for Sean. He was more of a father to Sean than Desi was, who off the scene. So despite the fact, Patty was convinced Desi was Sean's biological father, she allowed John Astin to adopt Sean legally. Then say to the whole world through her first book, that John Astin was the biological father of Sean Astin.

However, it came as a complete shock to Patty Duke that Michael Tell was proven to be Sean's biological father through DNA testing. For years she refused to accept the results because she was adamant that the marriage never was consummated. Years would go by before she finally acknowledged the fact that Michael Tell was the biological father of Sean Astin, and apologized to Michael Tell in her book for demonizing him for so many years. Pointing out that he could have made money off this situation, and given tons of interviews to gain notoriety. But he remained silent, and Patty is grateful for that and now calls Michael Tell "a very nice man."

For his part, Sean Astin maintains a relationship with all three men.

Sean Astin Used Paternity Test to Find Out Which of Three Men Was His Biological Father

[Heenan Fan]

Old news and common knowledge. Patty publicly admitted this, and the whole crazy story, like 15 years ago. Maybe longer. And John Astin knew the whole time.

[Hazel Anyday]

My first reaction to this is, why in the world didn't Patty just keep this to herself. Why was it necessary to make it all public? Doesn't make sense to possibly hurt people for the simple sake of making money or "getting it all out". Why? Silence is golden and you keep your dignity too.

[TV Guy]

I thought Patty Duke was a terrific actress. But she seemed like a pretty flaky person (and this has nothing to do with her manic depression).

[robyrob]

sounds like somebody is making money off of this - but if it was released posthumously then it obviously wasn't PD, and why is the grammar in that quote so atrociously and needlessly scatterbrained and incomprehensible? Sounds like somebody tying to stir up more book sales again.