Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, the 31-year-old heir to the Luxottica eyewear fortune, says paternity tests conducted over the summer showed he is not the father of a baby his ex-fiancée Jessica Serfaty told him she might be carrying. Del Vecchio recounted a monthslong saga that stretched from a yacht off Sardinia to a nightclub he owns in Milan, all centered on a pregnancy whose status still cannot be confirmed.
A Pregnancy Claim and a Confession
According to Del Vecchio's account, as reported by The New York Post, Serfaty told him over the summer that she was pregnant but was unsure whether he or another man was the father. He said the two had slept together in early July at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, after which Serfaty flew to Rome and slept with another man, described as a liquor-business mogul. About a month later, Del Vecchio said, she told him either of them could be the father.
Del Vecchio said Serfaty called him from Los Angeles while he was aboard his yacht near Sardinia, and he responded by chartering private jets to fly her and doctors out for testing. At least four paternity tests were ultimately conducted: at least two in Sardinia, including one taken aboard the yacht, and two additional tests in Milan. The results indicated he was not the father, a detail also noted by Head Topics.
A Trip to Milan and a Second Round of Testing
Del Vecchio said he, Serfaty, her father Ididia Serfaty and her son Roman Serfaty then flew to his home in Milan, where two additional paternity tests were taken while the group awaited results. Per the same account, Del Vecchio phoned Serfaty in September to deliver the findings. A recording reviewed by The Post captured Serfaty saying she planned to travel to Rome the following Tuesday for a backup test, telling those around her she wanted to make sure he was not lying about the outcome.
That same recording captured Serfaty saying the other man had offered her $5 million to have a baby with him, though she said she did not intend to accept and that she was ending the pregnancy rather than have a child with him. Roman Serfaty, 18, told the outlet that his mother was upset by the reported results because she had wanted the child to be Del Vecchio's, and said he understood she had hoped the baby would be his. The pregnancy's current status could not be learned, and Serfaty publicly denied being pregnant in a Page Six statement on October 13. She did not respond to The Post's requests for comment for its report.
Allegations, Denials and an Italian Investigation
The pregnancy dispute unfolded against the backdrop of a messier breakup. Del Vecchio and Serfaty, who starred as Sloan Petersen on Days of Our Lives since 2022 according to People, got engaged in 2023 after meeting at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, with Del Vecchio proposing at a restaurant on Italy's Amalfi coast. In 2024, Serfaty accused him of hitting her in the head aboard a yacht near Saint-Tropez; Roman Serfaty has said his mother broke a vodka bottle over Del Vecchio's head during the same incident. Serfaty retracted the abuse allegation that year, later telling The Times she did so because of an alleged smear campaign against her.
That alleged campaign surfaced in voice memos reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, in which a digital fixer working with Del Vecchio told partners that Serfaty would face what the publication described in The Hollywood Reporter as a vicious smear. A site targeting Serfaty went live on Aug. 15, 2024, and has since been taken down. Del Vecchio denies orchestrating any smear campaign. Separately, Italian prosecutors have alleged in a case tied to the Equalize intelligence firm that Del Vecchio commissioned unauthorized background checks on Serfaty and other family members; he has denied wrongdoing and said he was unaware of any illegal methods the firm allegedly used.
Court Filing Alleges Drugs, Violence Involving Her Son
An October filing submitted in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Ididia Serfaty, described as a Los Angeles-based biotech entrepreneur, included statements signed by Roman Serfaty and alleged that Jessica Serfaty violated an existing restraining order meant to protect her father and son. The filing accuses her of giving Roman and two friends a substance they believed was ketamine at an April after-party in Los Angeles, though the substance has not been independently confirmed as ketamine. Ididia Serfaty said Jessica gave Roman drugs on her own birthday, and Roman said in a call transcript included in the filing that his mother returned after three to five minutes with a bag they believed contained the drug. Jessica Serfaty denied giving her son drugs in that same call transcript and said she had never given him anything when he asked.
The filing separately accuses her of hitting Roman on the back in August and leaving a large red, hand-printed welt; Ididia Serfaty said the incident occurred at Del Vecchio's Milan home while the group awaited paternity results. In a text exchange cited in the filing, Jessica Serfaty appeared to acknowledge slapping Roman, claiming he had acted threateningly toward her. Roman reported the alleged drug episode to the Los Angeles Police Department in October, though the status of any investigation could not be immediately learned. Those seeking case records can search by litigant name through the Los Angeles Superior Court's public-access portal, which covers civil, small claims, family law and probate matters.
A Fortune, a Family Feud and Business Fallout
Del Vecchio said the allegations against him have damaged his reputation and complicated business dealings involving EssilorLuxottica and Delfin, though he declined to elaborate on which deals were affected. He is one of eight heirs to the fortune left by his father, who founded Luxottica in the 1960s, the predecessor of EssilorLuxottica, whose brands include Ray-Ban, Oakley, Oliver Peoples and Persol. The broader Del Vecchio family is also embroiled in a feud over control of Delfin, the holding company that, according to Reuters reporting cited in coverage of the family, received a roughly €30 billion takeover offer from Michal Strnad.
Estimates of Del Vecchio's own wealth vary: Forbes has listed his net worth at $5.5 billion, while other reporting has placed his personal fortune at more than $5 billion. Del Vecchio has said he hopes the paternity-test results will help clear his name, and in an October podcast interview he described his personal history in striking terms, saying he had made love with over 2,000 women and won over 90% of them by singing 'Hero.'
