Edward Norton is the descendant of Pocahontas

While Edward Norton participated in the ninth season of the American show “Finding your roots”, the actor learned to be both the descendant of Pocahontas but also of a slaver.

First guest of the new season of “Finding your roots” (Finding your roots, Editor’s note), a program hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. which deciphers the family tree of stars, Edward Norton had confirmation of a rumor circulating in his family. The Oscar-winning star of “Glass Onion” is indeed a direct descendant of the famous Pocahontas, daughter of Wahunsenacawh, a chief of Powhatan, confirmed to him Henry Louis Gates Jr.

“I thought it was a family affair. Well, that’s absolutely true,” the host said. Evoking a “direct written record” and specifying “that there was no doubt about it”, he explained to the actor that Pocahontas was thus his twelfth great-grandmother. “John Rolfe and Pocahontas were married on April 5, 1614. Shakespeare died in 1616, just to put that into perspective”, also underlined Henry Louis Gates Jr, before recalling that Pocahontas had died in 1617, and her husband in 1622 .

Through a direct paper trail leading to Pocahontas and John Rolfes’ 1614 marriage certificate, @EdwardNorton learns that his family lore appears to be true. His 12th great-grandmother is Pocohantas!

Tune in TOMORROW night on @PBS at 8/7c for the Finding Your Roots premiere!! pic.twitter.com/54sTTt2YKY

— Henry Louis Gates Jr (@HenryLouisGates) January 2, 2023

Besides his parentage with Pocahontas, the actor would also have learned that one of his ancestors, his third great-grandfather, John Winstead, had a past as a slave, according to an 1850 census taken in North Carolina, also reports The Hollywood Reporter.

A situation that puts him “uncomfortable”, underlined the actor, specifying: “It is not a judgment on you and your own life, but it is a judgment on the history of this country. This needs to be recognized and then fought against.”