Billionaire eyewear heir Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio has detailed a chaotic summer paternity dispute involving his soap opera star ex-fiancée, Jessica Serfaty, claiming she informed him she was pregnant but unsure whether he or another man was the father. Del Vecchio, 31, said he was relaxing on his yacht off the coast of Sardinia in August when Serfaty called him from Los Angeles with the unexpected news. The revelation triggered an urgent logistics scramble that involved chartering private jets to fly Serfaty and a team of medical professionals to Sardinia for paternity testing.
According to Del Vecchio, the former couple had spent time together in early July at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Immediately following that encounter, Serfaty—known for her appearances on reality television and her role as lawyer Sloan Petersen in the soap opera “Days of Our Lives”—traveled to Rome, where Del Vecchio alleges she slept with a liquor industry executive. A recorded phone conversation reviewed by reporters captures Serfaty acknowledging the encounter after Del Vecchio confronted her about the timeline.
While awaiting the initial results aboard Del Vecchio’s yacht, the group flew to his residence in Milan, where two additional paternity tests were administered. Del Vecchio eventually informed Serfaty of the findings in September, indicating that the tests established he was not the biological father. Recordings of subsequent phone conversations capture Serfaty expressing skepticism about the results and stating an intention to seek a backup test in Rome, alongside mentioning an unaccepted $5 million proposition from the other man to have a child. The current status of the reported pregnancy could not be independently verified.
The public airing of the paternity dispute coincides with ongoing fallout from a bitter split between the two public figures, whose relationship has drawn intense media attention. The pair became engaged in 2023, appearing together at major cultural events before experiencing a falling out in 2024 following an alleged altercation on a yacht near Saint-Tropez. Serfaty initially accused Del Vecchio of physical abuse, though her 18-year-old son Roman later stated that his mother broke a vodka bottle over Del Vecchio’s head during the incident. Serfaty subsequently retracted her allegations, attributing her initial statements to an alleged smear campaign orchestrated by Del Vecchio—an accusation the businessman firmly denies.
Del Vecchio contends that Serfaty launched public attacks against him out of frustration over the paternity findings. Roman Serfaty corroborated that his mother was distressed by the outcome, stating that she had expected Del Vecchio to be the father. Del Vecchio further asserted that the public controversy has complicated business interests tied to his family’s investment holdings and EssilorLuxottica, the eyewear giant founded by his late father that encompasses brands such as Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Persol. The broader Del Vecchio family has also faced separate corporate tensions involving control of the family’s investment vehicle.
Meanwhile, Serfaty faces separate legal challenges stemming from an October court filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court submitted by her ex-husband, Ididia Serfaty, a biotech entrepreneur. The filing contains signed statements from their son Roman alleging that Serfaty provided him and two friends with a small bag containing what they believed to be ketamine at an after-party celebrating her birthday in April. Photographs of the baggie were included in the court documents, though the exact substance has not been officially confirmed. Serfaty denied providing drugs to her son in a transcript included in the filing.
The same court documents allege that Serfaty struck Roman on the back during their stay at Del Vecchio’s Milan home in August, leaving a visible red welt. In a text message exchange included in the legal file, Serfaty appeared to defend the action by claiming the teenager had adopted a threatening posture toward her. Representatives for Serfaty did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding the allegations.
