Finding Your Roots: 10 Times Celebs Unearthed Problematic Pasts

10 Times Celebs Unearthed Problematic Pasts on Finding Your Roots

Welcome to MsMojo, and today well be looking at the most controversial discoveries celebrities made about their ancestors on Finding Your Roots.

Laura Linney

For most participants on this genealogy show, their ancestors voluntarily migrated to the United States in search of better economic opportunities. But Laura Linneys ancestor was brought against his own will. In this season 5 episode, the Finding Your Roots researchers managed to uncover a court document showing that Linneys fifth great-grandfather, William Linney, had been indicted in England for knowingly receiving stolen goods. In January 1768, following his conviction, he and several other felons were transported from London to Virginia aboard the Neptune. While its not the most uplifting information to discover about ones ancestor, Linney seemed to find some comfort in knowing that William accepted responsibility for his actions.

Michael Imperioli

Between 1920 and 1933, the U.S. outlawed the production, transportation and sale of alcohol a period known as Prohibition. Despite the ban, many bar owners continued selling liquor illegally, including actor Michael Imperiolis great-grandfather Raffael Raea. After Prohibition took effect, Raea and his family began storing large amounts of alcohol in their cellar and selling it illicitly to customers. In 1923, however, this operation ended in an unfortunate accident when a fire broke out, trapping Raea and an infant in the hallway. But Raea wasnt the only family member who defied the law during this era. In 1922, his sister-in-law was arrested and charged after unknowingly serving whiskey to a federal agent.

Angela Davis

When she appeared on Finding Your Roots in 2023 seeking answers about her maternal ancestry, political activist Angela Davis got a little more than she bargained for. A lifelong civil rights advocate dedicated to dismantling structural racism, Davis was surprised to learn that she descended from someone whose legacy stood in stark contrast to her own. The shows researchers traced her lineage to William Brewster, her 10th great-grandfather on her fathers side, one of the 101 white settlers who arrived in the American colonies aboard the Mayflower. This revelation was a little too much for Davis to handle, as she was left grappling with the contradiction between her lifes work and the history of her ancestors.

Soledad O'Brien

What would lead a 41-year-old woman to end up in a jail cell with a group of unruly teenage boys? For veteran broadcast journalist Soledad O'Brien, the answer lay in a prison register from 19th century Scotland. Host Henry Louis Gates Jr. presented OBrien with the document showing that her third great-grandmother, Lillius Wightman, was arrested for robbery in Edinburgh. However, Wightman wasnt the one committing the crimes herself. Instead, she appeared to be orchestrating a gang of teenage boys who carried out petty thefts and delivered the stolen goods to her. The revelation was initially embarrassing for OBrien, but as she uncovered more about Wightmans circumstances and the hardships she faced, she developed empathy for her.

Michael Douglas

Before he appeared on Finding Your Roots in 2024, actor Michael Douglas believed his grandfather had moved to America to avoid conscription into the Russian Army. It was the story his father had told him, but he would soon discover that it was all a lie. His grandfather, who went by the name Harry Demsky, was actually born Girsh Danilovich and had been arrested in Russia for robbery as part of a gang. Girsh wasnt the only family member with a criminal background. His brother, Movsha, was allegedly even more dangerous, as he was wanted for armed robbery though never arrested. To avoid prosecution for their crimes, it appears Girsh and Movsha fled Russia and started new lives in the U.S. under different identities.

Kristen Bell

Espionage is typically something we associate with movies and TV shows, not with our own family history. Yet, for actor Kristen Bell, it turned out to be very real. She discovered that her seventh great-grandfather, William Bell, emigrated from Scotland just three years before the American Revolutionary War began. When the war broke out, William revealed his true loyalties by joining the fight, not as a Patriot but as a Loyalist. Even more shocking, an affidavit written four years after the war revealed that he had secretly served as a British spy, tracking the movements of Patriot troops and relaying them to his superiors. Once his covert activities were uncovered, he was arrested, imprisoned and ultimately exiled along with his family.

Brendan Fraser

A work dispute took a shockingly violent turn for actor Brendan Frasers great-great-grandfather, Patrick Devine. Back in the 19th century, Devine was a coal miner who had moved to the U.S. from Ireland and worked at a factory in Pennsylvania. Wages for coal miners were already low, but after their pay was cut even further, Devine and his colleague went on strike, only to be fired and replaced by other workers. Rather than appeal to management, Devine reportedly shot his replacement, although the man survived. Remarkably, Devine faced no legal repercussions for the shooting. In fact, he was even rehired at the same coal mine and continued working there long enough to buy his own home.

Jeff Daniels

During the Salem witch trials, mass hysteria swept through the community, leading many to accuse their friends and neighbors of witchcraft. One of such people was Captain Thomas Chandler, the eighth great-grandfather of actor Jeff Daniels. Daniels discovered his ancestors role in the trials when he appeared on the ninth season of Finding Your Roots. He was presented with documents that showed Chandler testified against a man named Samuel Wardwell, a self-professed fortune teller. While that testimony carried little weight, it certainly proved far more significant in the case of Mary Parker, Chandlers neighbor whom he believed had used sorcery on his daughter and granddaughter. His statements played a part in securing the convictions and subsequent executions of both Wardwell and Parker.

Anderson Cooper

Renowned journalist Anderson Cooper isnt the first celebrity to find out they had ancestors who owned slaves. But the fate of his slave-owning ancestor was pretty unique. Coopers paternal fourth great-grandfather was a man named Burwell Boykin, who oversaw a plantation in the southern United States where 12 enslaved people labored under harsh conditions. After one of the slaves managed to escape, he was eventually recaptured and locked in a shed. This escapee then rebelled by attacking Boykin with a farm hoe and killing him. For his murderous act of defiance, the slave was reportedly executed without so much as a trial. Despite being stunned by this revelation, Cooper admitted he felt little sympathy for Boykin.

Ben Affleck

While Anderson Cooper openly acknowledged his familys history with slavery, actor Ben Affleck didnt seem ready to do the same. In the second season of the show, Affleck learned that his maternal ancestor, Benjamin L. Cole, was a slave owner in Georgia. Seemingly embarrassed by this revelation, Affleck pressured the shows producers to omit it from the final cut in favor of less controversial details. But just like his ancestors problematic past, Afflecks attempt to hide the truth was eventually exposed. During the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, a leaked email revealed his request to suppress the information. Although production on Finding Your Roots was temporarily suspended afterwards, the show eventually resumed after Affleck publicly apologized.

Have you ever gone digging into your ancestry? What troubling discoveries did you happen upon? Let us know in the comments below.