'This is so cool': Michael Douglas surprised after finding out Scarlett Johansson is his 'distant cousin'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Michael Douglas was left in shock after he was informed that actress Scarlett Johansson is a ‘distant relative.’
This revelation was made by ‘Finding Your Roots’ host Henry Louis Gates Jr who announced that the ‘Black Widow’ star is a 'DNA cousin’ of Douglas.
“Are you kidding?” a surprised Douglas said on the show. “Oh, that's amazing. All right. This is cool. This is so cool.”
What did show host Henry Louis Gates Jr say?
As per Gates and his “book of life,” Douglas and Johansson “share identical branches of DNA on four different chromosomes.”
The host explained that their branches of shared DNA “appear on Scarlett's maternal lines, which stretch back to Jewish communities in Eastern Europe.”
“That's incredible,” said the ‘Basic Instinct’ actor, adding, “Well, I look forward to seeing Scarlett next time!”
The two have worked together in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s biggest flick, 2019’s ‘Avengers: Endgame.’
They played the character of Natasha Romanoff and Hank Pym in it.
Douglas is the first child of famous actors Kirk Douglas and Diana Hill. During the program, it was revealed that his paternal grandparents were Russian Jews who emigrated to America.
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How many children does Michael Douglas have?
The ‘Wall Street’ star has three kids, and has been married to Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Since 2012, when ‘Finding Your Roots’ was launched, it has continued to make surprising discoveries about well-known figures.
It includes Edward Norton and Julia Roberts finding that they are genetic cousins; Kerry Washington was conceived through a sperm donor, Bob Odenkirk, who is linked to King Charles and Nathan Lane.
Also, Viola Davis found out that she’s related to Anita Hill.
Gates told People in February that his own lineage got him interested in investigating others' family trees too.
“I went into orbit when I found out that DNA could be used to trace your ancestry back 500 years,” he said.
“When you spit in that test tube, you never know what’s going to pop out.”
