Michael Douglas (79) has a new family member. In the US series “Finding Your Roots”, the actor discovered, according to “People” magazine, that he is related to his colleague Scarlett Johansson (39). “Are you kidding? Oh, that’s amazing. That’s great. That’s cool,” the Hollywood star reacted in surprise to the relatives.
Host Henry Louis Gates Jr. (73) revealed to Douglas that he and Johansson have “identical DNA branches on four different chromosomes.” This makes the “Black Widow” actress his “DNA cousin”. The shared branches “appear in Scarlett’s maternal lines, which go back to Jewish communities in Eastern Europe,” Gates said.
Douglas seemed visibly happy to be with his “Avengers” co-star. “This is incredible. I look forward to seeing Scarlett next time!” said the Oscar winner.
Michael Douglas is the eldest child of Kirk Douglas (1916-2020), one of the leading Hollywood stars of the 1950s and 60s. His parents were Russian Jews who emigrated to America. Scarlett Johansson’s mother Melanie Sloan (72) comes from a family of Polish-Jewish origins that also settled in the USA.
Since 2012, the genealogy series “Finding Your Roots” has been searching for genealogical surprises for celebrities. The historical scientist Henry Louis Gates Jr. has already discovered interesting connections: actor Edward Norton (54), for example, is the genetic cousin of Julia Roberts (56). The comedian Bob Odenkirk (61) is distant with King Charles III. (75) related.
The “Django Unchained” star Kerry Washington (47) gained a special insight through the show. It was only through “Finding Your Roots” in 2018 that she found out that she was not her father’s biological child. When she asked her parents for a DNA sample for the series, they confessed that she was conceived using an anonymous sperm donation.
