Amanda Seyfried made a horrifying discovery about her third great-grandfather during a recent appearance on the PBS show Finding Your Roots.
In a teaser clip from the season 11 premiere of the docu-series — which sees host Henry Louis Gates Jr. meet with celebrities to break down their ancestries — the 39-year-old Mean Girls star was handed an old newspaper clipping.
“Oh my God, what? Oh my God,” Seyfried said as she read the article stating that her great-grandfather’s grandfather had been fatally shot at his home one night in 1905.
“John P. Ebert, the well-known retired baker, a good citizen and inoffensive man, was shot three times by an unknown assailant on the back step of his home at Washington and Lumber Street at 9:30 last night,” the article began.
It described the fateful event, saying that Ebert likely had his hand on the doorknob of his backdoor “when from between the outhouse and the grape arbor which screens it stepped a man who fired three shots at him point blank at a range not more than a yard.”
The article detailed that Ebert was “so seriously wounded that he cannot possibly recover.”
“Oh my God, that’s so sad!” Seyfried said, reacting in shock.
“Your third great-grandfather was murdered. Have you ever heard this story before?” Gates Jr. asked.
“Nope, no. Definitely no,” Seyfried responded, going on to express her sympathies for her third great-grandmother, with whom she shares her first name: “Poor Amanda and those kids.”
“It’s weird, I don’t know him but yet he’s family, and I’m just like, ‘How dare they?’ Like, find justice!” she said.
Finding Your Roots, which debuted in 2012, is preparing to premiere its 11th season on Tuesday, January 7, at 9 p.m. ET on PBS.
The forthcoming season will see Gates Jr. meet with Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard, Chrissy Teigen, Joy Behar, Laurence Fishburne, Sharon Stone, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Melanie Lynskey, Michael Imperioli, and more to learn about their family history.
The show often leads to shocking discoveries. In a 2023 episode, Edward Norton learned that his ancestors were slave owners.
“The short answer is, these things are uncomfortable, and you should be uncomfortable with them. Everybody should be uncomfortable with it,” the Fight Club actor told the host.
“It’s not a judgement on your and your own life but it’s a judgement on the history of this country. It needs to be acknowledged first and foremost, and then it needs to be contended with.”
