Robert Blake's Daughter Didn't Speak about Herself for Years Following Family Tragedy & Only Visited Mom's Grave at 18

• Robert Blake's wife, Bonny Lee Blakley, died in his car.
• He was held liable for her death and was even prosecuted.
• The couple's child grew up with no parents and was raised by a relative.

Robert Blake was a former child star whose life was turned upside down following a tragic incident involving his wife, Bonny Lee Blakely. The couple welcomed a daughter who experienced a "traumatic childhood."

Robert was an actor whose show business career began at the age of five. It gained momentum after he appeared in several television shows.

The New Jersey native starred in the drama series, "Barretta," wherein he played Detective Tony Barretta. His last on-screen work was on the 1985 "Hell Town" series, which aired for only one season.

Almost two decades later, Robert's life changed drastically. He had been married to Bonny since 2000, and together, they were parents to an 11-month-old child, Rose Blake, when tragedy struck.

The Blake Family Fell Apart after a Tragedy

In May 2001, Robert was sitting with his wife Bonny in his parked car outside an Italian restaurant in Studio City, California, where they had just dined together — when the unthinkable happened.

Bonny, 44, was fatally shot inside the vehicle. Her husband, Robert, told the police that he had left the car to go and look for a gun that had fallen out of his clothes, which the authorities determined was not used to shoot the mother of four.

However, almost a year and a half later, Robert was arrested and charged with Bonny's murder, and his trial was televised. During the court proceedings, the prosecution cited statements from two retired stuntmen who alleged that he attempted to hire them as hitmen.

Still, the defense disregarded the allegation as unreliable because no evidence linked Robert to the murder. Moreover, there were no eyewitnesses either. After deliberating for eight days, the jury acquitted him of the crime in 2005.

Still, Bonny's family held the Hollywood star liable and filed a civil suit against him. The civil jury, which found Robert responsible for her death, ordered him to pay $15 million. In addition, an appeals court cut the requested amount by half, and the case was settled for an undisclosed amount.

Robert & Bonny's Daughter Was Adopted by a Family Member

Rose was only two years old when her famous father was arrested for her mother's death. Her half-sister, Delinah Blake, Robert's older daughter from a previous marriage, was granted permanent guardianship of her in July 2002.

Delinah had cared for her younger half-sibling since their dad was apprehended for the crime in April of that year. In her petition for guardianship, she revealed she had cared for Rose since September 2000, when she was three months old.

Delinah also considered herself the most qualified to raise Rose. Not only was she her half-sister, but she was also a clinical psychologist who specialized in neglected and abused kids.

That said, Rose was raised by Delinah and her husband in Sherman Oaks, where she led a low-key life away from the limelight – and from her father, whom she had not seen since she was five years old.

Although Rose lived a life away from the prying eyes of Hollywood, she was not entirely spared from the paparazzi. At age 15, she was a cheerleader for Campbell Hall School when, during a football game one day, she realized someone from the stands was taking photos of her.

But she did not make much of the situation and continued. Weeks later, Rose saw pictures of her in a tabloid magazine, which embarrassed her. Rose once explained:

"It was a positive article, but it put distance between me and my classmates."

Rose Visited Her Mom's Grave & Reunited with Her Dad

Rose, who grew up trying to come to terms with her mother's murder, openly talked about her family tragedy in a 2019 interview for the very first time and said:

"It was kind of a traumatic childhood at that point."

She explained how she tried to navigate through life without her mom and getting unwanted attention from the media because of her dad's trial:

"It's all so public. I can literally Google any of our names, and it would come up."

At the time, Rose stated she wanted to take control of the narrative surrounding her life, saying it was difficult when everyone talked about her when she was not talking about herself. "I am now," Rose, who was 19 then, stated.

The now 23-year-old revealed she suffers from "severe anxiety and depression" and has seen therapists over the years to discuss all that had occurred within her family.

When she turned 18, she decided to reconnect with her past when she visited her mother's grave near the Hollywood Hills. She did not want to know where her parent had been buried for a long time because she was not ready. But when she eventually turned 18, she felt ready.

Rose took another step when she reunited with her father in 2019. She referred to him by his name instead of calling him dad during an interview.

She divulged that they talked about her childhood and what Robert had been up to since. In another October interview with Access Hollywood that same year, Rose revealed she had "positive" memories of them together as a child.

The brunette beauty also divulged that she had been in contact with her father during that period, and they had been seeing each other occasionally. But the two did not discuss Bonny's death as Rose did not want to know the details of what transpired because she did not have to pick a side.

As for whether she believed her dad was guilty or innocent, the young woman said in a March 2023 interview that "it feels useless to have an opinion about it" because it would only "trouble" her.

Rose admitted that she had looked forward to seeing Robert as an adult, but at the same time, she was also nervous because she only knew what she had seen on TV about him. Moreover, she said she would have "felt very guilty and sad" had she not met her dad as a grown-up.

Fortunately, she made that decision before he passed away. Robert died of heart disease in March 2023 at his Los Angeles home and was surrounded by his family, his niece confirmed in a statement at the time. The Emmy Award winner, who starred alongside Jennifer Lopez and Woody Harrelson in "Money Train," was 89 years old.

As for his daughter, she was reportedly happily living in Los Angeles with her boyfriend and their two cats in 2019. Rose shared she would be pursuing an acting career.