Bieber, Lavigne and Gosling share the same family connection through French couple Mathurin Roy and Marguerite Bire, while Bieber and Dion are linked through Jacques Vezina and Marie Boisdon.
- October 11, 2012
AceShowbiz -
No one knows that Justin Bieber is a relative of Avril Lavigne, Ryan Gosling and Celine Dion until Ancestry.com started tracing his family lineage last year. The four stars are linked to each other through some of Quebec's earliest settlers dating back 400 years ago.
According to a family tree provided by the site, Bieber and Gosling are 11th cousins once removed while Bieber and Lavigne are 12th cousins. They share common relatives Mathurin Roy and Marguerite Bire who were born in France in early 1600s and moved to Quebec after getting married in 1637.
Meanwhile, Bieber and Dion are 10th cousins three times removed. They are connected through Jacques Vezina and Marie Boisdon. Like Roy and Bire, they were born in France in the early 1600s and then moved to Quebec, the area which now has predominantly French-speaking population.
"The great thing about family history is that you never know what you're going to find," says Ancestry's researcher Michelle Ercanback. "It was a very pleasant surprise."
"Discoveries like this are rare, so the fact that some of Canada's top entertainment industry stars are all related is especially fascinating," genealogist Lesley Anderson adds. "There's something special about discovering a shared connection, and to be able to go so far back in history to do so is one of the most satisfying aspects of family history research."
