As we watch Vice President Kamala Harris defend her own heritage, the popular show “Finding Your Root’s ’’seems more significant than ever. On the hit PBS series host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uses DNA to help some of the most popular celebrities uncover more information about their families’ pasts.
From surprise distant cousins to unsettling news about their distant relatives’ ties to slavery, we’ve rounded up some of the most shocking revelations from “Finding Your Roots.”
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Kerry Washington
“Scandal” star Kerry Washington couldn’t understand why her father hesitated to share his DNA with the folks at “Finding Your Roots.” That is until she found out that it was because he was afraid of her finding out that she was conceived with the help of a sperm donor. Although the revelation was difficult for everyone involved, Washington told Oprah in an October 2023 interview that her love for her parents only grew deeper after she learned the truth.
Dionne Warwick
Singer Dionne Warwick had a close relationship with her maternal grandfather. But she didn’t know much about his back story. So when Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and team got more information about Warwick’s great-great-grandfather, she learned he and his wife owned a Georgia farm in the early 1900s, something almost unheard of for Black people, who were mostly sharecroppers during that time.
Whoopi Goldberg
Making an appearance on “The View” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of “Finding Your Roots,” Henry Louis Gates, Jr. surprised host Whoopi Goldberg with the news that NFL tight end Tony Gonzalez is her DNA cousin.
“We’d like to come to your family dinners, Whoopi,” joked co-host Sunny Hostin.
Ciara
R&B singer Ciara was stunned to learn she has a familial connection to former New York Yankees’ shortstop Derek Jeter on a January 2004 episode.
“Ciara and Derek share a long identical stretch of DNA on their 14th chromosome, DNA which we know Derek inherited from his mother. When we compared their DNA to the DNA of others who have been in the series, we found a match for each of them,” Gates explained.
“What the world!?” a shocked Ciara reacted to the news.
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan is known for making people laugh. But in an emotional December 2023 episode, the actor/comedian got a little choked up when he learned that rapper Nas is his third cousin.
“I called him up, and I say, ‘Yo Esco,’” the Saturday Night Live alum said on an episode of The Connect the Dots podcast. “He said, ‘What up, Tray?’ I said, ‘Guess what? I just did ‘Finding Your Roots,’ me and you related.’ He started crying. I started crying. And I said to him, ‘If you ever need me, I’m there, cuz.’”
Angela Davis
On a powerful episode of “Finding Your Roots,” civil rights activist Davis learned that her 10th great-grandfather – a man named William Brewster – was one of the people who came to America on the Mayflower.
“That’s a little too much to deal with right now,” she told Gates after hearing the news.
Carly Simon
Singer Carly Simon received the shock of her life in season 4 of “Finding Your Roots” when she learned that her grandmother pretended to be of Spanish and Moroccan heritage, when she was actually Black woman from Cuba.
Joe Manganiello
No one was as shocked as actor Joe Manganiello to get the results of his DNA tests. He learned that his great-grandmother had an affair with a Black man and that Manganiello’s biological grandfather was one of their three mixed-raced children. “As soon as the cameras are gone, I’m just going to lay down on the ground,” he told Gates.
Danielle Brooks
In a February 2024 episode of “Finding Your Roots,” “Orange is the New Black” actress Danielle Brooks learned that one of her ancestors fought for the Union army during the Civil War.
“That is pretty cool,” the actress told Gates in the episode.
Tamera Mowry-Housley
Actress Tamera Mowry-Housley always knew her mother’s family roots were in the Bahamas. But when the “Finding Your Roots” staff looked at her father’s side, they traced the family back to England and learned that her 13th great-grandfather used his home as a church for an underground religious group that broke away from the church of England. Arrested after his group was discovered, Mowry-Housley’s relative sailed on the Mayflower to America where he was present for the first Thanksgiving.
Sunny Hostin
In a February 2024 episode, The View co-host Sunny Hostin, who has always identified as Afro-Latina, got the news that the show’s genealogists traced Hostin’s maternal grandfather back to a man of Spanish heritage who was involved in the slave trade and owned at least one person.
“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.
LeVar Burton
Actor LeVar Burton has spent much of his life advocating for education and trying to foster a love of reading in children. On a January 2024 episode, Burton learned that his love of learning is hereditary, as his grandfather and great-grandfather worked in education as school superintendents.
“It fills me with great pride that I have inherited this mantle of educator,” Burton told Gates in the episode. “That’s very cool.”
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