Celebrity Finding Your Roots Revelations

Your genealogy can offer a fascinating new perspective on family history. Famous people seem to agree, and the rise of reality television means fans can discover new information about their favorite stars alongside them.

Celebrities on Finding Your Roots can trace their lineage back generations with the help of host Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Revelations from Finding Your Roots range from the random, like Tina Fey's distant connection to Ben Franklin, to the horrible, like Ben Affleck's relatives owning slaves. Similarly, celebrities on Who Do You Think You Are? also uncover new branches of their family trees. The show followed Susan Sarandon as she discovered her grandmother's scandalous past, and connected Sarah Jessica Parker to a colonial tragedy. And then there's Brooke Shields – a dive into her family's past revealed a surprising royal pedigree.

From shocking secrets to funny coincidences, here are the most jaw-dropping celebrity revelations from Who Do You Think You Are? and Finding Your Roots.

On one episode of Finding Your Roots, it was uncovered that actor Ben Affleck's ancestors were slave owners in the American South. The episode in question, however, didn't include those details, thanks to Affleck's influence. PBS stopped producing the show for a time as a result of the scandal, and Affleck apologized on Facebook:

"I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story. We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors and the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery. It is an examination well worth continuing. I am glad that my story, however indirectly, will contribute to that discussion. While I don't like that the guy is an ancestor, I am happy that aspect of our country's history is being talked about."

Political talk show hosts Bill Maher and Bill O'Reilly hold many conflicting views, but it turns out they're actually cousins, according to Finding Your Roots. The two share a common Y-chromosome (male-line) ancestor from Middle Ages and Renaissance Ireland.

Maher said, "It just shows you what a great place America is. Because we're about as opposite as you can possibly get."

O'Reilly responded, "Oh, geez. You're going to have to put him on 24-hour medical watch. This ruins his career. This destroys him."

Ginnifer Goodwin's Who Do You Think You Are? episode contained some eye-opening revelations. Her grandfather, John Barton Goodwin, was estranged from his mother, Nellie, and father, John. But there was a good reason: Nellie got married three times, and her first husband gave her syphilis. Nellie probably took morphine to halt the pain brought on by syphilis symptoms, and became addicted.

Comedian Larry David scored an Emmy for playing politician Bernie Sanders on Saturday Night Live, but it turns out the two are actually kin. On Finding Your Roots, it was revealed that David is distantly related to Senator Sanders. Their looks and behavioral patterns must run in the family.

On Who Do You Think You Are?, music superstar Lionel Richie uncovered the fact that his great-grandfather was born into slavery. However, that ancestor, John Louis Brown, later became a civil rights leader. Brown was involved in the Knights of the Wise Men, an organization that assisted black communities across the country.

Sarah Jessica Parker starred as a witch in Hocus Pocus, but it turns out she has real-life witchy ancestry. On Who Do You Think You Are?, Parker discovered her 10th great-grandma was condemned as a witch at the Salem Witch Trials. This 17th-century woman, Esther Elwell, was rumored to have been spotted with ghostly figures, pressing down on a woman who later died. Thankfully, Elwell didn't go to trial because prosecution for witchcraft was outlawed.

On Finding Your Roots, TV mogul Shonda Rhimes traced her ancestry back more than a hundred years. She discovered her Chicago-based family actually hailed from further south in the Mississippi Delta. They moved north around 1910 as part of the "Great Migration," during which millions of black Americans came north in search of more economic opportunities and to escape violent racism.

On Who Do You Think You Are?, actress Susan Sarandon investigated the mysterious past of her maternal grandmother, Anita, who abandoned Sarandon's mother when she was just two years old. While looking into Anita's history, Sarandon was shocked to discover that Anita got married and had a baby in her early teens. But that wasn't Anita's only secret. She apparently married both her second and third husbands while still legally wed to her first spouse. In other words, she was a bigamist.

Comedian, actress, and writer Tina Fey made an intriguing discovery on Finding Your Roots. Her great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, John Hewson, came to America from England. Why? His old pal Benjamin Franklin advised him to do so. Hewson moved to Philadelphia, PA, Franklin's stomping grounds.

Big Bang Theory actor Jim Parsons always heard he was French on his father's side. As it turns out, that's true. He traced his lineage to the Trouard family in France; one Louis Trouard was a marble supplier to King Louis XV at Versailles. Trouard's son was the chief architect to the ill-fated Louis XVI.