Top 20 Awkward Moments on Who Do You Think You Are

From shocking family secrets to uncomfortable historical revelations, join us as we explore the most startling discoveries made by celebrities tracing their ancestry. These moments from the hit genealogy show left both stars and viewers stunned, revealing everything from criminal ancestors to unexpected connections.

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WatchMojoUK is your source for British Top 10s, covering popular shows like Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, Great British Bake Off, Coronation Street, This Morning, Good Morning Britain, The Graham Norton Show, Sherlock, and more! We also cover the latest in British Movies, Music and Pop Culture - We Top 10 it all!

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[DF-zgml]

I find it funny when a black person realises that a black ancestor had slaves and is horrified. I mean who do you think Europeans & Arabs bought black slaves off?

[lucyj]

It's an uncomfortable inevitability that almost every Black participant in this or the American equivalent will find enslavers in their family history, and there is often a very awkward conversation about rape.

[TheDaddiestBear]

Being a violent drunk probably wasn’t “in spite of” being a war hero, but caused by it.

[femcymoedd]

I've seen it written somewhere that some celebrities were refused a turn on 'Who Do You Think You Are' because their stories were too boring. If that is true, it's hardly surprising that all the episodes of the show discover something bizarre in the subject's ancestry.

[Vesnicie]

Just as surely as you're not to thank for their accomplishments, neither are you to blame for your ancestors' shortcomings. It baffles me when people get so emotionally tied up in this stuff. Doesn't everyone know that they are sure to have their share of both angels and demons and everything in between in their family tree?

[radarlockeify]

Cheryl 'Clobber' Tweedy finding out her family had a problem with violence is quite ironic.

[OldWines]

Murder, slave-owning and illegitimacy have their moments in my family as well.
A) What can I do about it?
B) Save a minor misdemeanor, my life - now seventy-four years on - has been bland and unobtrusive. I did my part.

[asinglemaleinuk]

You cannot pick your relatives or family. Humanity is a hotchpotch of circumstances, some planned, some accidental, some mistakes, some just life.

[jesebsp]

The Alan cumming episode, they showed coroner's report. The angle of shot (back of the head) made it impossible to be self-inflicted. It was strange how suddenly his reaction changed and the story changed. They were trying really hard to convince him it was self-inflicted.

[davebarrowcliffe]

It was hilarious when the obviously status-conscious Nigella found out she was from common-or-garden Eastern European Ashkenazis rather than the rather more 'rarefied' Sephardics...

[CatharinaKoenheim]

Your own actions are the only ones that count. You are not your ancestors after all and somewhere up the line, we can all find shocking behaviour.

[staffordcrombie]

I am always surprised when 'Black' people American or British think that there ancestors were 'slaves' when of course they were slave owners.
It is a fact that few people wish to even acknowledge that slavery existed in Africa long before 'white' people even knew where Africa was or even if it existed.
An ancient African saying goes, A man (or woman) that does not own a slave makes a slave of himself!
Look it up !

[tornraw]

I did our family history and figured out my grandparents got married a mere 3 months before my Dad was born. I mentioned it to him and his reaction was "and so?"

[professormcclaine]

We can't choose our parents or our ancestors.

[TheJONNYSHADOW]

Have you got the one with David tennent interviewed in a church which had an excavation marked out complete with skeleton and skull & on seeing this, he jumps over the fencing erected to keep people out of the hole, picks the skull up & starts reciting the Bards "Poor Yorik, I knew him well" speech & then realising what he had done replacing the skull sheepishly & somewhat subdued got out. !!

[Alsatiagent-zurx]

Decades ago one of my American nieces or nephews did a school project that involved their family tree. It seems my Grandmother arrived by ship in Halifax, Nova Scotia alone and pregnant. My Grandfather did catch up. They appeared to have had a happy marriage and brought four children into this world. I don't think it scandalous. It seemed much more like love.

[alysontaylor]

I am of Scottish decent and the only thing that really shocked me was when I found out about my 32 GGGrandfathers times 18 to 20 were all killed in the Battle of Flodden Fields on 9th September 1513 ...20 thousand Scots and 8 thousand English were killed..
It nearly wiped out the Scottish nobility and aristocratic lineages..

[minot.]

A girl I once dated with the surname Braun had a grandfather who was in the German army in WW2. Showed me a picture of a high ranking SS officer posing on a tank.
Better still, it turns out he was a cousin of Eva Braun, Hitler’s missus. She didn’t have a clue why I found it hilarious.. 😅

[corvus]

My great-grandfather and his brother murdered their brother-in-law. He fled from Tennessee to Arkansas.

[lordjazoijua]

I find it funny watching the US version and watching Americans getting shocked when they find out they have English ancestry.