Entertainment
Edward Norton completely stunned to learn he’s related to Pocahontas: ‘Oh my god’-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro
‘It makes you realise what a small piece of the human story you are,’ Ed commented.
Edward is related to Pocahontas through tobacco planter John Rolfe (Picture: Getty Images)
Edward Norton was taken aback when he discovered he descends from Pocahontas.
The Glass Onion actor, 53, made the discovery while appearing on an episode of PBS’ Finding Your Roots, which sees a bevvy of celebrities digging deeper into their family history, set to be broadcast Thursday.
In a preview of the docuseries, the American History X performer looks stunned to learn that his twelfth great-grandmother was Pocahontas, the iconic Native American daughter of the Great Powhatan.
‘Oh my god,’ Ed says, shaking his head, with host Henry Louis Gates Jr confirming that the Norton family folklore about the relation to Pocahontas was absolutely true.
A still-shocked Ed then asked Henry how the team was able to determine the connection, with the presenter replying there is a paper trail, adding: ‘no doubt about it.’
The Incredible Hulk actor is apparently related to Pocahontas through tobacco planter John Rolfe, who she married in 1614, three years before her death aged around 21.
Ed remarked: ‘This is about as far back as you can go, unless you’re a Viking. It makes you realise what a small piece of the human story you are.’
In a previously released preview of the show, The Prestige actor is seen reacting to the news that his ancestors owned a family of slaves that included five little girls.
In the clip, Ed is presented with a picture of a 55-year-old man, a 37-year-old woman, and five girls, aged, four, six, eight, nine, and 10, whom his family owned as slaves.
Native American Princess Pocahontas at the time of her marriage to colonialist John Rolfe. (Picture: Getty Images)
Responding to the picture, the Birdman actor said: ‘Everybody should be uncomfortable with it. It’s not a judgement on you and your own life but it’s a judgement on the history of this country.
‘It needs to be acknowledged first and foremost, and then it needs to be contended with.
‘When you go away from census counts and you personalise things, you’re talking about, possibly, a husband and wife with five girls, and these girls are slaves. Born into slavery.
‘Again, when you read “slave aged eight”, you just want to die.’
Edward starred in blockbuster film Glass Onion (Picture: BACKGRID)
This comes after the news that Benedict Cumberbatch’s family have reportedly been placed on a list of wealthy descendants that could be faced with a reparations fight with the Barbados government.
After the country sought independence from British monarchical control in 2021, officials have supposedly begun a campaign to seek reparations from descendants of former slave-owning families and plantation holders.
The Doctor Strange actor and his family have been placed under the watch of the island’s government after the star’s ancestry came to light.
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It has been reported that the 12 Years a Slave actor’s seventh great-grandfather owned the country’s northern Cleland plantation in 1728.
The ninth series of Finding Your Roots is also set to look at the ancestry of Julia Roberts, Claire Danes and Sofia Vergara’s husband, Joe Manganiello.
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MORE : Edward Norton ‘uncomfortable’ after discovering ancestors were slave owners: ‘You just want to die’
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