It turns out megastar Julia Roberts is not actually a Roberts at all.
After appearing on Finding Your Roots — a US equivalent of Who Do You Think You Are — the 55-year-old discovered that she was actually a ‘Mitchell’, after DNA testing narrowed down her heritage.
According to historian Dr Henry Louise Gates Jr, while her great-grandfather’s name is John Roberts (born in 1878 in Douglas County, Atlanta), his mother was Rhoda Suttle — a woman Julia hadn’t ever heard of.
Julia Roberts discovered that she is actually ‘Julia Mitchell’
Archives showed that Rhoda was indeed married to Willis Roberts; however, it turns out he died a decade before his “son” John was born, meaning Willis couldn’t have possibly fathered him.
“But, wait, am I not a Roberts?” Julia asked the historian.
During the 19th century, a lack of birth certificates meant there was no way of knowing who the true father of Rhoda’s children were; however, with present-day DNA testing, it turned out that “biologically”, she was linked to Henry Mitchell Jr.
“You’re Julia Mitchell. You are not a Roberts, biologically,” Dr Gates told the Pretty Woman star.
“This was a very unexpected turn,” she said. “I bet nobody knew.”
“Well, everybody on that farm knew because her husband wasn’t there and she was still having babies,” Dr Gates said.
Henry Mitchell Jnr was most likely having an affair with Julia Robert’s great-grandmother
Around the time that John was born, records indicated that an 1880 census showed Henry lived a few miles from Rhoda’s home with his wife Sarah Mitchell and their six children.
It also turned out that his mother lived FOUR houses down from Rhoda, leading the historian to believe that when Henry “visited” with his mum, he was probably visiting Julia’s great-grandmother as well.
“Sarah was probably saying, ‘Oh he’s going to see his mother, how sweet?’” Julia said in disbelief.
“On the one hand, my mind is truly blown, and it’s fascinating, and on the other hand, there’s part of me that, when I’m calmer, can still wrap my arm around the idea that my family is my family.”
Needless to say, she admitted that she did “prefer the name Roberts”.
Talk about a plot twist!
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