How Minka Kelly Reconnected with Her Aerosmith Guitarist Dad: 'I'm Still Working on Making Peace With Him'
Raised by her single mom who worked as an exotic dancer, Kelly is releasing her new memoir Tell Me Everything on May 2
Minka Kelly barely knew her father when she was growing up.
In her new memoir Tell Me Everything, Kelly recalls how her mother Maureen, who raised Kelly by herself and performed as an exotic dancer to make ends meet, met guitarist Rick Dufay in 1979 at recording studio in Los Angeles. Their casual romance led to a pregnancy, and Maureen wanted to keep the baby. Dufay was about to go on tour with Aerosmith and wasn't ready to be a full-time father.
"My mom was on her own for a very long time, so she was just surviving and doing her best and maybe not totally well-equipped to have and raise a child," the former Friday Night Lights star tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. "But she did it anyway because she wanted me and she loved me to the best of her ability."
Despite a brief rekindling with Dufay that was filled with drug use, Maureen began a tumultuous off- and on-relationship with another man, David, who would become a father figure to Kelly. The two moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to live with David's extended family and remained there while Kelly went to middle and high school.
Related:Minka Kelly Reveals Details From Her Traumatic Childhood in New Memoir: 'I Carried a Lot of Shame'
A toxic relationship with her first boyfriend — which included an abortion and sex tape — ended when Kelly finally made enough money to move into an apartment of her own and eventually relocate to L.A. to reconnect with Dufay.
"I used to be really angry at him for not being there for my younger years, but I think that everything happens as it's supposed to," she says. Kelly initially moved in with Dufay, who helped her find her footing before getting her own place in L.A.
Her dad especially supported Kelly emotionally after she found out Maureen was diagnosed with colon cancer and given two years to live.
"When she got sick, she and I were not on speaking terms. I didn't want to be burdened with her anymore," Kelly recalls. "I wanted to live my life, and I was mad at her for being irresponsible and not taking care of herself. I just didn't want to believe it."
Dufay suggested his daughter start therapy to be able to deal with her mother's death. "Thankfully," she adds. "Another huge area of my life that I don't know what I would've done without him."
For more from Minka Kelly, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on stands Friday.
As for her relationship with Dufay now, the Euphoria star insist she's "still working on a lot of that. I'm still working on making peace with him," she says. "I love my dad so much. I think that he is so wise and he is so smart, and he's wonderful in so many ways and helped me navigate living in L.A. and going through this business in a way that I need maybe him more now than I did when I was younger. We're good friends now, and I'm glad he's here."
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Tell Me Everything hits bookshelves on May 2.
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