Talk about sad things while building rapport?

Seddit,

when building an emotional connection, do you ever talk about sad experiences, and negative emotions?

Say, for example, in a conversation she drops a few hints that her dad left the family early ("he lived in Sweden for 20 years", "my half brother..." etc.). Do you dig in there, or do you ignore it and change topics?

I always found talking about emotions hard, especially about negative feelings, so I avoided it. I'm wondering if I should change that, or if these topics are better left untouched in a conversation.