The View co-host Sunny Hostin is the latest celebrity to be blown away by a surprise from their origin story. The attorney and author appeared on the February 6 episode of PBS’s ‘Finding Your Roots,” where host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. shared some shocking news about her family tree.
Hostin, who was born to a Puerto Rican mother and a Black father, proudly identifies as Afro-Latina. She writes candidly about being raised to embrace both sides of her heritage in her 2021 memoir, “I Am These Truths: A Memoir of Identity, Justice, and Living Between Worlds.” But on this episode, which also features actor Jesse Williams, Hostin learns she has some European roots and ties to a Spaniard who was likely involved in the slave trade.
Suggested Reading
Genealogists traced Hostin’s maternal grandfather back several generations to a man of Spanish heritage who owned at least one person. And the news of her possible connection to slavery was a not-so-pleasant surprise to the journalist, who has always been outspoken on social justice issues.
“Wow, I’m a little bit in shock. I just always thought of myself as Puerto Rican, half Puerto Rican. I didn’t think my family was originally from Spain and slaveholders,” Hostin told Gates on the show.
“Just the colonization of other people. I’m surprised that they were enslavers, actually,” she added. “That’s disappointing.”
On the bright side, Hostin pointed out that the news of her Spanish roots gave her something in common with her husband Emmanuel, who has Haitian and Spanish heritage. The couple has been married for 20 years.
“I think it’s actually pretty interesting that my husband and I have shared roots, so I do appreciate that, and I think it’s great for our children to know this information. I guess it’s a fact of life that this is how some people made their living, on the backs of others,” she said.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.