Julia Roberts, the much-loved Oscar-winning actress, discovered something about her past that has blown her mind. After making an appearance on PBS’ “Finding Your Roots” with Henry Louis Gates Jr., she discovered that she is not from the “Roberts” lineage.
The host of the show uncovered the family secret and told Julia Roberts the man she thought was her great-great-grandfather, Willis Roberts, who died in 1864. That was more than a decade before Roberts’ great-grandfather was born. Gates said Roberts’ great-great-grandmother, Rhoda Suttle Roberts, had married Willis in the 1850s, and this created a mysterious gap when Willis passed away.
Gates told Roberts, “Willis Roberts could not possibly be your great-great-grandfather. He was dead.”
“Oh, wait — but am I not a Roberts?” the actress asked.
You could watch the revelation sink in that she had been living a lie her whole life and she wasn’t a “Roberts” after all.
“So we’re ‘Mitchell’s?’” Roberts asked.
“You’re Julia Mitchell,” Gates Jr. replied. The actress laughed and Gates said again, “You are not a Roberts, biologically.”
This wasn’t the only secret that was uncovered, Gates also revealed that Henry Mitchell Jr. had been married at the time of his alleged affair with Roberts’ great-great-grandmother. And he had six children of his own with his wife, Sarah. He also said Mitchell’s widowed mother lived “just four households away.”
Julia seemed stunned by this news of her heritage, she just said, “Wow.”
Gates asked Roberts to try and explain how she felt.
“On the one hand, I, truly, my mind is blown,” Roberts said. “And it is fascinating. And on the other hand, there’s part of me that, when I’m calmer, can still wrap my arms around the idea that my family is my family. And I do prefer the name Roberts!” she exclaimed.
“This was a very unexpected turn,” Roberts said as the episode ended.
