White Celebs Learn They’re Black on ‘Finding Your Roots’

The hit PBS series “Finding Your Roots” is must-see television for more than 4.5 million weekly viewers who tune in to learn more about the family stories of their favorite stars.

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Whether it Angela Davis learn that she is a direct descendant of the founding fathers or Tracy Morgan When celebrities learn that he and Nas are third cousins, there's always a surprise when they learn the truth about their ancestry – especially when a white guest finds out they're of African descent.

Series host Henry Louis Gates Jr. I sat down with our editor-in-chief, Tatsha Robertsonto talk about some of the biggest surprises he gave the white celebrities on the show.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. on discovering white people's surprising black roots

Gates recalled a shock from season four when he shared the results of singer Carly Simon's DNA test. Genealogists found that the singer is 10 percent African, which is the equivalent of a great-grandmother with full African ancestry. It turns out that Simon's grandmother claimed to be of Spanish-Moroccan descent, when in reality she was a black woman from Cuba.

“We’ve never tested someone as black as you.” Gates told Simon by the time.

But as Gates told us, Simon's DNA results weren't exactly a surprise to him.

“Carly Simon is a good friend. I look at her lips and think, “Damn, I have to do that DNA.” he laughed.

Johnny Cash's daughter Rosanne was shocked to learn that her mother, Johnny's first wife Vivian, had African ancestry after the couple portrayed her as being of Sicilian descent for years.

But the biggest surprise was the actor's story Joe Manganiello, host of NBC's “Deal or No Deal Island.” During season nine, researchers discovered that Manganiello did not share any DNA with the man he believed to be his paternal grandfather.

After further investigation, they discovered that his great-grandmother was having an affair with a black man. Manganiello's biological grandfather was one of her three biracial children – a shocking discovery that, Gates told him, meant the “Magic Mike” star was actually black.

“That means that under the one-drop rule you would be African American.” Gates told Manganiello by the time.

“Boy, this is really interesting.” he answered.

“He had to call his father to tell him that his mother was having an affair with a black man.” Gates laughed.