You never know what you'll find at the roots. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most sensational moments from “Finding Your Roots,” where celebrities uncovered shocking truths about their ancestry.
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00:00I don't even know what to say.
00:01Welcome to Nizmojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most sensational moments
00:07from Finding Your Roots, where celebrities uncovered shocking truths about their ancestry.
00:13Even weeks later, Joe was still trying to process the news.
00:18Number 20, Carly Simon.
00:20All her life, singer-songwriter Carly Simon believed that her maternal grandmother,
00:25Ofelia Olliete, who immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba, had Spanish and Moroccan roots.
00:31In 2017, Simon decided to dig deeper into her grandmother's ancestry,
00:36suspecting there was more to the story.
00:39She always wanted to remain completely private. She never shared any of her past with us.
00:45It was always a mystery, and she kept it a mystery.
00:48The Finding Your Roots researchers traveled down to Cuba,
00:51where they sifted through Catholic church documents and uncovered a surprising truth.
00:56Incredible. This is why she said you'll find nothing, because she couldn't find anything.
01:01She couldn't find, and she had things that she was hiding.
01:04Simon's grandmother was actually 40% Black,
01:07and likely downplayed that heritage to avoid discrimination during the Jim Crow era.
01:13As a result, Simon discovered that she herself is 10% Black,
01:17a revelation that left her genuinely stunned and eager to share with the rest of her family.
01:23We have never tested a white person as Black as you.
01:27Can't wait to call my sisters and my brother and tell them this.
01:3119. Dionne Warwick
01:33Although she grew up in New Jersey, Dionne Warwick always knew her roots traced back to Georgia.
01:39The story of how her family ended up in New Jersey, however,
01:42remained a mystery until she appeared on the show in 2024.
01:46You know what you're looking at?
01:48The deed?
01:49The deed of them buying their land.
01:51Yeah.
01:51Isn't that cool?
01:53Warwick learned that her great-great-grandfather, John Drinkard Sr,
01:57owned a farm in Georgia in the early 1900s, likely growing cotton.
02:02This was a rare feat at a time when most Black farmers were stuck in the cycle of sharecropping.
02:07But when a beetle infestation ravaged Georgia in the early 1920s and a bank loan went south,
02:14Warwick's grandfather, Nicholas Drinkard, was forced to sell the farm and move to Newark.
02:19There, he formed a gospel singing group, setting the stage for Warwick's future stardom.
02:26Loved to sing. He had a voice that was angelic. And he knew his children could sing.
02:34And these are his children.
02:3618. Questlove
02:39The episode featuring Roots drummer and joint frontman Questlove
02:43was more than just a deep dive into his ancestry.
02:45It also unveiled a surprising connection to a pivotal chapter in American history.
02:51Amir Thompson, better known as Questlove,
02:54has one of the most astonishing stories we've ever recovered.
02:58Although the international slave trade was officially banned in the U.S. in 1807,
03:03illegal smuggling persisted for years.
03:05The last known ship to bring captives from Africa to the U.S. was Clotilda,
03:10which illegally transported 110 people from what is now the Republic of Benin.
03:16I'm on the absolute last ship that ever came here.
03:23Through Finding Your Roots, Questlove discovered that his great-great-great-grandparents,
03:28Charles and Maggie Lewis, were among those smuggled on Clotilda.
03:32Seeing a picture of Charles Lewis was so overwhelming for Questlove that it moved him to tears.
03:38I said I wasn't going to cry, man.
03:43I didn't know who I was or who I came from.
03:4617. Julia Roberts
03:49Imagine going through life only to discover you've been rocking the wrong surname the whole time.
03:54That's exactly what happened to Julia Roberts.
03:57The story begins with her great-grandfather,
04:00John Roberts, and with his mother, a woman named Rhoda Suttle.
04:06You ever hear that name?
04:07No.
04:07On the show, Roberts uncovered a family secret involving her great-grandfather,
04:11John Roberts.
04:12An 1880 census listed a two-year-old John living with his siblings and mother, Rhoda Suttle,
04:19but there was no mention of Rhoda's husband, Willis Roberts.
04:22You notice anyone missing?
04:26A dad.
04:27A dad. A dad is missing.
04:30That's because Willis died over a decade prior.
04:33Clearly, he couldn't have fathered John.
04:36Julia, Willis Roberts could not possibly be your great-great-grandfather. He was dead.
04:43But, oh, wait, but am I not a Roberts?
04:46A deeper dive into the family's DNA revealed John's true father was a married man named
04:51Henry MacDonald Mitchell Jr., who likely had an affair with Rhoda. So technically,
04:56Roberts' actual name should be Julia Mitchell, which, let's be honest,
05:00just doesn't have the same ring to it.
05:02So we're Mitchells?
05:04You're Julia Mitchell.
05:07Number 16, Andy Samberg
05:10From a young age, comedian Andy Samberg's mother, Margie, knew she was adopted.
05:14But uncovering the identity of her biological parents proved difficult.
05:19Even a private detective hired by the family came up empty-handed.
05:23So Samberg enlisted Henry Louis Gates Jr. to help crack the case.
05:28It's something that I really wished for my mother,
05:31because I know that it would be something to give her peace about it, just to know.
05:36Using historical records and vague descriptions from the adoption agency,
05:40they zeroed in on a woman named Ellen Philipsborn. To confirm the connection,
05:44they tracked down Philipsborn's niece and compared her DNA to Margie's,
05:49which turned out to be a match.
05:51Your mother and Renata's daughter share about 13.5% of their DNA,
05:58which puts them solidly in the range of first cousins.
06:02Holy cow.
06:03They were also able to identify Margie's father, a sailor named Salvatore Maida.
06:09Interestingly, Philipsborn got pregnant while studying child psychology at UC Berkeley
06:15and shared Margie's passion for working with children.
06:18My mom is someone that always everyone describes as like a child whisperer,
06:24that she just knows how to deal with kids. She understands kids.
06:28It's the thing she was drawn to, to her inexplicably.
06:32Number 15, Edward Norton.
06:34The ninth season premiere of Finding Your Roots didn't just drop a bombshell about Julia Roberts.
06:39It also unearthed some surprising facts about fellow actor Edward Norton.
06:44Well, I was fascinated by it. I'm fascinated by the idea of roots, the idea of
06:52what drives people to leave one place and go to another.
06:56To start, Norton found out he is actually distantly related to Roberts.
07:00But that's not all. He also discovered that Pocahontas is his 12th great-grandmother,
07:06confirming a family legend he had heard his entire life.
07:10Pocahontas is indeed your 12th great-grandma.
07:12Oh my god.
07:13However, the journey through Norton's ancestry wasn't all rosy.
07:17An 1850 North Carolina census revealed that his third great-grandfather, John Winstead,
07:23owned enslaved people, some of whom were children.
07:26It was a sobering moment for the actor, who acknowledged it not as a judgment on his own life,
07:32but an uncomfortable truth that must be contended with.
07:35I mean, when you go away from census counts and you personalise the thing,
07:40you're talking about possibly a husband and wife with five girls.
07:46Number 14, Fred Armisen.
07:49Fred Armisen's grandfather, Masami Kuni, seemed like an ordinary guy,
07:53a Japanese dancer who lived in Germany before moving to the U.S. later in life.
07:58I met him, I want to say maybe four or five times.
08:02What did your father say? What did he say? He said,
08:04I'm taking you to meet your grandfather?
08:05Yeah, or Kuni's coming.
08:07But it wasn't until he appeared on Finding Your Roots that Armisen
08:10realized Kuni was anything but ordinary.
08:13In actuality, Kuni was South Korean, born in 1908 as Park Yong-In.
08:19He only assumed a Japanese identity after the 1923 massacre of Koreans in Japan.
08:25While living in Germany, Kuni performed for frontline troops,
08:29subtly aiding propaganda efforts for the Nazis.
08:32In essence, your grandfather travelled around occupied territories,
08:36putting on performances for German soldiers.
08:38That's what he was being paid for.
08:40Perhaps even more surprising, Kuni also doubled as a spy for Japan during this period,
08:46gathering intelligence from the Germans and feeding it back.
08:49He wasn't just a dancer, he was practically a master of disguise.
08:54And it's one way in that isn't a soldier, I suppose that's what espionage is all about.
09:00Mandy Patinkin
09:02Actor Mandy Patinkin was born to a family of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland.
09:07This is the very moment that your great-grandfather arrived in America.
09:11Wow. Wow, wow, wow.
09:14Nevertheless, he went his entire life believing
09:17that none of his relatives had perished in the Holocaust.
09:20In this Season 7 episode, however, Patinkin learned he was sorely mistaken.
09:25Host Henry Louis Gates Jr. revealed a document showing that his grandfather's cousin,
09:30Lazar Patinka, and his family were among those rounded up in the Polish town of Branz.
09:36Did your grandma Celia ever talk about this with you all?
09:39No.
09:40They were then sent to the Treblinka concentration camp where they all sadly lost their lives.
09:46Discovering this heartbreaking truth brought Patinkin to tears,
09:50a powerful reminder that the consequences of hate are never too far away from any of us.
09:55I was never given this information. This is... I don't have words.
10:02That's unbelievable.
10:0512. Sonny Hostin
10:08Sometimes new information comes and flips your world upside down.
10:12The View co-host Sonny Hostin knows this all too well.
10:16When did you first realize that you wanted to make an impact on the world?
10:19Oh, I was probably seven or eight.
10:22Hostin had already identified as Afro-Latina,
10:25proudly embracing what she believed were her half-Puerto Rican roots.
10:30But the reality was much different.
10:33A DNA test on Finding Your Roots revealed Hostin was only 7% Puerto Rican,
10:39with a significant portion of her ancestry being Spanish.
10:42I'm a little bit in shock. I just always thought of myself as Puerto Rican.
10:47You know, half-Puerto Rican.
10:48She also learned that her maternal fourth great-grandfather was a Spanish merchant
10:53likely tied to the slave trade,
10:55and his son Ferman even owned at least one enslaved person.
10:59I guess it's a fact of life that this is how some people made their living,
11:05on the backs of others.
11:06The discovery was a bitter pill to swallow, especially for Hostin's mother,
11:10who identified as Puerto Rican and was involved in the civil rights movement.
11:15My mother especially was very politically active
11:18and would sort of take me on marches and protests and stuff like that.
11:24And I took it to heart.
11:25Number 11. Joe Manganiello
11:28When Joe Manganiello appeared in this Season 9 episode,
11:31he uncovered some jaw-dropping truths about his family tree.
11:34The Turks came into her home in 1915 under the guise of World War I.
11:39His maternal great-grandmother's survival of the Armenian Genocide was a heroic tale,
11:44but it was his paternal ancestry that host Henry Louis Gates Jr.
11:47labeled one of the show's all-time greatest hits.
11:50I'm going to tell you about your Cutler family.
11:52Okay.
11:53You ready?
11:53Yeah.
11:54DNA analysis showed that the actor was not related to Emilio Manganiello,
11:58the man he believed to be his grandfather.
12:01Instead, the team traced his roots to his actual paternal gray grandparents,
12:06William Henry Cutler and Nellie Olsen,
12:08an interracial couple who defied societal norms by marrying at a time when it was unacceptable.
12:14So your great-grandparents had a tremendous amount of courage.
12:20This revelation was confirmed by further DNA testing,
12:23which showed that Manganiello is 7% Sub-Saharan African.
12:27Number 10. Tina Fey
12:29At first glance, it may appear that Tina Fey
12:32and founding father Benjamin Franklin share nothing in common.
12:37Other than their luscious shoulder-length locks, of course.
12:40However, a surprising connection between the two was revealed on Finding Your Roots.
12:45It turns out Fey's paternal fifth great-grandfather was John Hewson,
12:51an English textile manufacturer trained in London.
12:55That looks so much like my dad.
12:56Really?
12:57Yes.
12:58Hewson moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the suggestion of his friend Benjamin Franklin,
13:04who helped him establish a quilting factory there.
13:08Shortly after, the American Revolution broke out and reached Pennsylvania.
13:13Despite being English himself, Hewson seemingly opposed British colonialism in America
13:19and served as a patriot during the war.
13:22Full name of soldier, Captain John Hewson.
13:25Today, his quilt work still hangs at the Met.
13:28I tried to make a quilt once. I didn't finish.
13:31So maybe you didn't get the quilting gene.
13:33I didn't get it. I didn't get the quilting gene.
13:35Number nine, Brendan Fraser.
13:38It's not uncommon for striking employees to harbour anger and frustration towards so-called
13:44scab workers.
13:46But it seems one of actor Brendan Fraser's ancestors may have taken things a little too far.
13:52What's it like to read that, to think that is your ancestor shooting another man?
13:57Fraser's great-great-grandfather, Patrick Devine, migrated from Ireland to the U.S.
14:04and found employment in a Pennsylvania coal mine.
14:07As an Irish immigrant, Devine faced discrimination at work
14:11and protested a wage reduction by going on strike.
14:151900 census shows him working again in the mines,
14:20meaning that somehow he got himself rehired.
14:24When scab workers replaced the striking employees,
14:27Devine and another engineer shot one of the replacements,
14:31although he miraculously survived.
14:34Yeah, they had a plan. That's criminal.
14:37It was a shocking revelation for Fraser, who couldn't help but wonder
14:42if his ancestor's extreme actions did anything to solve the underlying issues.
14:48I don't believe you should fire guns at me.
14:51I don't believe you should fire guns at people to get what you need.
14:56But then again, it's not 1875 right now.
15:02Number eight, Angela Davis.
15:04Throughout her career as a political activist,
15:08Angela Davis has consistently fought against various forms of structural racism.
15:14Racism is indeed the key problem faced by the people of the country,
15:19and the threat of fascism is growing.
15:22So when she appeared on Finding Your Roots in 2023,
15:26it was shocking to learn that her ancestors were among America's first white settlers.
15:32Davis was revealed to be a descendant of William Brewster,
15:36one of the 102 passengers who arrived at the colonies on the Mayflower.
15:41The ironic discovery serves as a poignant reminder of the intricate nature of human ancestry.
15:49Davis' heritage also extends throughout a complex mix of bloodlines
15:54involving slave owners and enslaved people.
15:57Notably, one of her ancestors played a pivotal role
16:01in securing the freedom of his nephews by taking their master to court.
16:06So do you see a little bit of him and his determination trickling down that
16:10family tree of yours?
16:11Absolutely, absolutely. Yes, definitely.
16:16Number seven, Kerry Washington.
16:18Although Kerry Washington didn't necessarily make this shocking discovery on Finding Your Roots,
16:24it might not have come to light if not for the show.
16:27We need to talk to you.
16:28That simple six-word text message changed Kerry Washington's life forever.
16:33The actress, who had reportedly always felt a disconnect with her dad,
16:37opted to undergo a genealogy test on the series.
16:41However, she noticed her father's reluctance to provide DNA samples for the procedure.
16:47This apparently stemmed from the fact that Washington's parents
16:51had conceived her using a sperm donor, a detail they never disclosed to her.
16:56The revelatory news that she was not her father's biological child
17:00sent Kerry on an emotional journey of self-discovery
17:03that she's sharing in her new memoir, Thicker Than Water.
17:06Realizing that the test would uncover this information,
17:10Washington's parents finally revealed the truth.
17:13The actress credits host Henry Louis Gates Jr. for encouraging her parents to come clean,
17:20acknowledging that it has strengthened her bond with them.
17:24You know, at some point, we have to accept that our parents do the best they can,
17:27and then we have to fill the gap by parenting ourselves.
17:31Number six, Anderson Cooper.
17:33When award-winning journalist Anderson Cooper appeared on Finding Your Roots in October 2014,
17:39he made a disconcerting revelation about one of his ancestors.
17:44Holy crap!
17:46Cooper's fourth great-grandfather, Burwell Doykin,
17:49was a slave owner in the southern United States, overseeing a plantation with 12 slaves.
17:57At some point, one of the enslaved people managed to escape,
18:01but he was later recaptured and locked in a shed.
18:05The escapee eventually rebelled and fatally attacked Doykin with a farm hoe.
18:10Oh my god! That's amazing!
18:15For this act of defiance, the slave was executed without a fair trial.
18:21Despite being stunned by the violent nature of the murder,
18:25Cooper acknowledged he felt no sympathy for his late ancestor.
18:29You think he deserved it?
18:30Yeah.
18:32I have no doubt.
18:33It's a horrible way to die, Anderson.
18:36He had 12 slaves. I don't feel bad for him.
18:37Number five, Bill Maher and Bill O'Reilly.
18:41They are two of the most contrasting political commentators on the air.
18:46Bill Maher is an outspoken liberal atheist,
18:48while Bill O'Reilly is as much of a conservative Christian as anyone can get.
18:54I mean, if you're a religious person and the Bible is written by God,
18:58why is stuff in the Bible untrue?
19:00Well, because it's allegorical, Bill.
19:02However, despite their stark differences, both men share a surprising connection.
19:08In a season three episode of Finding Your Roots,
19:10it was revealed that the two polar opposite personalities are actually distant cousins.
19:17Through Y-DNA test analysis, both men were traced back to a common male
19:22ancestor from the medieval Irish kingdom of Brethna.
19:26It just goes to show that no matter how different we may appear to be,
19:31we often share more similarities than we realize.
19:35You can pick your friends. You cannot select your relatives.
19:39Number four, Joe Madison.
19:41Imagine going your entire life believing you know who exactly your parents are,
19:47only to have that belief completely shattered.
19:50Growing up, he spent very little time living with his parents
19:54and came to me with basic questions about his roots.
19:57That was the plight of veteran radio talk show host Joe Madison.
20:02In 2019, Madison appeared on Finding Your Roots and discovered, through a DNA test,
20:08that Felix Madison, the man he thought was his biological father, actually wasn't.
20:14This revelation was so sensitive that host Henry Louis Gates Jr.
20:18had to share it with Madison privately, away from all the cameras and recording equipment.
20:25I appreciated your sincerity and concern.
20:31Through the show, Madison also learned that his biological grandfather
20:36was one of the study subjects in the controversial Tuskegee syphilis experiment.
20:42Number three, Kevin Bacon and Keira Sedgwick.
20:46The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon trivia game purports that every actor in Hollywood can
20:52be linked to Kevin Bacon by just six or fewer connections.
20:57If true, this would apply to his own wife, actress Keira Sedgwick.
21:01However, in 2011, the couple discovered that their connection goes far beyond
21:06marital vows or a fun trivia game.
21:10In fact, through Finding Your Roots, Bacon and Sedgwick learned that they are cousins.
21:18See, I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!
21:21Although, their relationship is quite distant,
21:24as the two are actually ninth cousins once removed.
21:28Interestingly, it appears the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon isn't limited to just Hollywood.
21:33Bacon was also revealed to be related to Brad Pitt, Barack Obama, and King Edward I.
21:40Oh, the King of England!
21:42Edward I, King of England, is your 22nd great-grandfather.
21:47Look at that!
21:47You are descended from the Lord.
21:49Wow!
21:49Number two, Ben Affleck.
21:52Ben Affleck's appearance on the second season of Finding Your Roots
21:55sparked a controversy that threatened the show's future.
21:59Wow, that is incredible.
22:01Results of the genealogy tests exposed the fact that one of Affleck's ancestors
22:06was a slave owner.
22:08This revelation seemed to embarrass the actor,
22:10prompting him to request that the producers omit it in favour of less controversial details.
22:16You are descended from a patriot.
22:21I knew I felt a special affinity for the football team.
22:23But you know what they say, nothing stays hidden under the sun.
22:27During the infamous Sony Pictures hack in 2014,
22:32an email leaked which revealed Affleck's unusual request.
22:36As a result, the third season of Finding Your Roots was temporarily suspended.
22:41Affleck later apologized for his actions, and the show eventually returned to the air.
22:47Yeah, I'm sure that there's so much of people's history that gets lost over time.
22:52You have to really work to hold on to it, I suppose.
23:061. Larry David and Bernie Sanders
23:14On the surface, comedian Larry David and US Senator Bernie Sanders share a lot of similarities.
23:26They're both elderly Jewish men born in New York City in the 1940s.
23:31Sanders even had a brother named Larry,
23:34while David has impersonated the senator multiple times on Saturday Night Live.
23:39Not a fan of the banks. They trample on the middle class,
23:43they control Washington, and why do they chain all their pens to the desks?
23:48Who's trying to steal a pen from a bank? Makes no sense!
23:52However, when they both participated on Finding Your Roots in 2017,
23:58they discovered an even deeper connection – their sixth cousins once removed.
24:04This surprising revelation seemed to delight both men,
24:08although they were clearly taken aback by it.
24:12Now, we just eagerly anticipate seeing the fictionalized version of the discovery
24:18uncurb your enthusiasm.
24:20What surprising discoveries have you made in your family tree?
24:24Share them with us in the comments below.
24:26Please turn the page and meet your genetic cousin.
24:31Julie-Han?
24:32Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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