On PBS' 'Finding Your Roots', the 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery' actor is told he is a descendant of Pocahontas and his ancestors were slave owners.
- Jan 5, 2023
AceShowbiz - Edward Norton is a descendant of Pocahontas. The "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" actor, 33, found it out while appearing on an episode of PBS' "Finding your Roots" set to be broadcast Thursday, January 5, 2023. Edward also said "these things are uncomfortable" when he discovers on the show his ancestors were slave owners of a couple and their young children.
The actor was allegedly stunned to find his twelfth great-grandmother was Pocahontas, the iconic Native American daughter of the Great Powhatan. "This is about as far back as you can go, unless you're a Viking. It makes you realize what a small piece of the human story you are," Ed says as quoted by NBC Philadelphia reported when making the discovery on the show.
Edward is apparently related to Pocahontas through tobacco planter John Rolfe, whom she married in 1614, three years before her death aged around 21.
Metro added when Ed was shown a photo of a husband and wife, along with their five daughters, and told they were owned as slaves by his ancestors, the 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."
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.
