Julia Moore is a virtual information writer at PEOPLE. She currently obtained a Bachelor's in in Journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, and has been an avid PEOPLE reader for years.
Julia Roberts isn't always who she thought she changed into.
The Oscar-winner appeared on PBS' Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. On Wednesday, and become left speechless thru a hidden centuries-old mystery.
After reading Roberts' own family tree, Gates Jr. Observed that the person that became supposedly her outstanding-excellent-grandfather, Willis Roberts, absolutely died greater than a decade before her superb-grandfather changed into born.
While her tremendous-wonderful-grandmother Rhoda Suttle Roberts had been married to Willis because the 1850s, his loss of life in 1864 left a startling hole.
"Oh, wait — but am I now not a Roberts?" the Ticket to Paradise superstar requested as Gates Jr. Walked her via his findings.
Gates Jr. Then described that public databases as an opportunity placed "a cluster of suits" that traced Roberts, fifty five, to a person referred to as Henry McDonald Mitchell Jr.
"So we are Mitchell's?" Roberts requested.
"You're Julia Mitchell," Gates Jr. Confirmed as she laughed. "You are not a Roberts, biologically."
To make subjects even greater startling, the historian introduced that Mitchell have been married at the time of his affair with Roberts' super-tremendous-grandmother Rhoda and had six of his non-public children.
Through painstaking studies of census records, he moreover observed that Mitchell's mom, a widow, lived "simply 4 households" far from Rhoda.
"Wow," is all Roberts could manage to mention as Gates Jr. Illuminated her true family records till he asked her how she felt approximately her newfound ancestry.
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"On the one hand, I — really — my mind is blown," Roberts stated. "And it is captivating. And but, there may be part of me that, once I'm calmer, can though wrap my fingers across the concept that my own family is my own family. And I do decide on the call Roberts!"
"This modified into a totally sudden flip," she brought as Gates Jr. Wrapped up his findings, telling her that Mitchell Jr. Reputedly disappeared from the paper trail within the past due 1800s. His and Roberts' newfound ancestors, however, may be traced all the manner decrease again to 18th-century colonial Virginia.
Roberts' family scandal is the current revelation on the display. On Jan. Four Edward Norton featured at the PBS display's most efficient episode and have become informed that 17th-century Powhatan lady Pocahontas is his 12th awesome-grandmother.
Gates. Jr. Discovered that Norton's ancestry — which includes a Civil War soldier who wrote to Abraham Lincoln and a late 19th-century seasoned-union exertions activist — may be traced at once returned to the earliest days of colonial America in Virginia, whilst Pocahontas married English settler John Rolfe in 1614.
The historian also found out that Norton and Roberts percent a comparable sufficient DNA sequence to determine they proportion a not unusual ancestor — news that left each actors guffawing with marvel. "How come I did not get the enamel and the smile?" Norton joked.
The complete episode of Finding Your Roots can be found on PBS' internet site.
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