In an interview with Ancestry’s Finding Your Roots series, Julia Roberts discovered a shocking fact about her connection to the Roberts family, dating back over 150 years ago.
Dr Henry Louis Gates Jr dug into her family tree and discovered that Julia Roberts’ real name should be Julia Mitchells.
The revelation came after Dr Gates found that Rhoda Scuttle, the actress’ great-great-grandmother, had an affair.
“Digging into Georgia’s County archives, we discovered that sometime in the 1850s, Rhoda married a man named Willis Roberts,” Dr Gates said.
“Julia carries Willis’ last name, but Willis passed away in 1864, over a decade before Rhoda gave birth to Julia’s great-grandfather, John, leading to an inescapable conclusion.”
That conclusion was, “Willis Roberts could not possibly be your great-great-grandfather. He was dead.”
The Pretty Woman actress was left at a loss for words, “wait, am I not a Roberts?” she asked.
Dr Gates then explained that he dug deeper into her history, using her DNA and found that she and her other relatives are linked to one man:
Henry McDonald Mitchell Jr.
“We found a cluster of matches that tie Julia and her cousin to one man,” the ancestry expert said.
“So, we’re Mitchells?” Julia responded in disbelief. Dr Gates confirmed that her real name should be “Julia Mitchells”.
Image: Getty
This article first appeared on OverSixty.