Mia Farrow’s sorrow was joined by fans worldwide Friday in the wake of news that her adopted son Thaddeus Will Farrow had died from a “suicide gunshot wound” to the torso.
He was pronounced dead at 2:30 p.m. at Danbury Hospital.
“We’re devastated by the loss of Thaddeus, our beloved son and brother,” Farrow wrote on Twitter. “He was wonderful, courageous person who overcame so much hardship in his short life. We miss him. Thank you for the outpouring of condolences and words of kindness.”
USA Today said: “Thaddeus was a paraplegic and polio survivor. Mia Farrow adopted Thaddeus from an orphanage in Calcutta, India, in 1994. A November 2013 Vanity Fair profile of Farrow and her 14 adopted and biological children described Thaddeus as a car mechanic studying to become a police officer.
“The VF profile explained how Thaddeus had been left in a railway station as a child in Calcutta and forced to crawl on his hands and stubs of legs to beg for food.
“Later, at an orphanage, he was chained to a post, and kids would throw rocks at him to prompt the mannish growls he made. When Mia saw him, she says, she had a powerful reaction: ‘That’s my son,’ the profile stated.”
The IBTimes added: “Originally named Gabriel, he later changed his name to Thaddeus, and had been named in honor of Elliott Wilk, the judge who oversaw the custody battle with Allen. Many of Mia Farrow’s 14 children have changed their names.
“In September 2000, Mia Farrow and Thaddeus Farrow attended the United Nations’ first Global Polio Partner Summit in an effort to eradicate the disease. He pushed the button which started a countdown to the time for a polio-free world in 2005.”