Farrow has put a lot of goodwill into the world, particularly impressive for someone who has faced more than her share of loss. Not long after Farrow contracted polio as a child, her oldest brother Michael died in a plane crash; he was only 19 at the time.
When Farrow herself was 18-years-old, her father died of a heart attack, causing her to pick up some of the responsibility for providing for the family — perhaps planting a seed leading her to later become a mother for so many kids in need.
The family Farrow has overseen as a mother has also faced its share of tragedies. Her Vietnamese daughter Tam died in 2000; Mia Farrow would remember Tam in 2021 as having "passed away at 17 from an accidental prescription overdose related to the agonizing migraines she suffered, and her heart ailment."
As for Tam's older sister (who died in 2008), Farrow wrote: "My daughter Lark was as extraordinary woman, a wonderful daughter, sister, partner and mother to her own children. She died at 35 from complications of HIV/AIDS, which she contracted from a previous partner. Despite her illness she lived a fruitful and loving life with her children and longtime partner. She succumbed to her illness & died suddenly in the hospital on Christmas, in her partner's arms."
Lastly, in 2016, Mia Farrow lost the son she had adopted from Calcutta. "My courageous son Thaddeus was 29 and happily living with his partner," she wrote. "We were all anticipating a wedding, but when the relationship abruptly ended, he took his own life."
Regarding the deaths of her three children, Farrow referred to them as "unspeakable tragedies."
