The feisty “Erin Brockovich” or Julia Roberts in real life, unmasked herself when she discovered that she isn’t who she thinks she is. She isn’t a Roberts.
The Notting Hill actress, 55, was stunned upon learning on the latest episode of Ancestry’s “Finding Your Roots” that her great-great-grandmother Rhoda Suttle Roberts had a secret liaison with a married man after the demise of her husband, Willis Roberts.
“Digging into Georgia’s County archives, we discovered that sometime in the 1850s, Rhoda married a man named Willis Roberts,” Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. explained.
“Julia carries Willis’ last name, but Willis passed away in 1864, over a decade before Rhoda gave birth to Julia’s great-grandfather, John, leading to an inescapable conclusion.”
After a DNA archives search and thorough genealogical work, Gates discovered Willis “could not possibly” be the Pretty Woman actress’ great-great-grandfather.
“He was dead,” the historian revealed. It came like a shock for many and for Julia Roberts.
An obviously dazed Julia asked, “But am I not a Roberts?”
Gates further explained that he probed into the A-lister’s DNA in an effort to find a match for the biological great-great-grandfather of Julia Roberts.
“We found a cluster of matches that tie Julia and her cousin to one man — Henry McDonald Mitchell Jr.,” the Harvard University lecturer noted.
“So we’re Mitchells?” Julia Roberts asked Gates.
“You’re Julia Mitchell. You are not a Roberts biologically,” he responded.
“Wow,” the Runaway Bride actress stunned. “Is my head on straight still? Am I facing you?”
According to the research Gates and his team conducted, Mitchell was married with six children and his mother lived four houses away from Rhoda Suttle Roberts.
“On the one hand, truly my mind is blown. And it is fascinating,” the Pelican Brief star said. “And on the other hand, there is, you know, part of me when I’m calmer, you know, can still wrap my arms around the idea that you know, my family is my family. And I do prefer the name, Roberts.”
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