Regina King’s journey to discover her roots on PBS’ “Finding Your Roots” has led her to uncover painful truths about her family’s past. Read on to find out more about Regin’s emotional journey of self-discovery…
Academy Award-winning actress Regina King was left in tears when she learned about her late grandfather’s double life on the latest episode of PBS’ “Finding Your Roots”. The season 8 episode helped Regina understand her father’s upbringing, as he had kept his childhood a mystery.
“Growing up, I never really knew much about him other than he loved us and where he worked and his friends, who were his good friends,” Regina shared.
But host Henry Louis Gates Jr. revealed some surprising news about her late grandfather, Thomas King Sr., who had missed parts of King’s father’s childhood. He died in 2009.
“My grandfather actually gave me away at my wedding,” she shared. But it wasn’t until she learned about the public records that showed her late grandfather had two separate families in two different cities that she truly realized why her grandmother was always “a very sad woman.”
“I don’t understand,” the Hollywood actress said after reading the census. She recalled the truth about her grandfather’s double life never being discussed in her family. “It makes me angry. It makes me feel sad for my dad.”
But the Watchmen star didn’t just learn about her grandfather’s double life – she also uncovered the challenging upbringing he faced, including his parents divorcing and his mother leaving to live with a new husband in another city. “My mind is just … this is a lot to take in,” King admitted. “A lot I’ve never seen and never heard.”
The If Beale Street Could Talk star recognized her family’s “patterns” of pain and realized that “pain is inherited as well as joy.” The revelations were truly “unimaginable” for her.
The 52-year-old entertainer also discovered information about her mother’s family. Gates told her that her third great-grandfather, Bob Cain, was mentioned in the will of a white planter named Elijah Cain as a 6-year-old boy who was passed down as property to another member of the family.
“It makes me angry,” said Regina. “Because, you know, did he know his mother? You know, and, and if he did, how long? And he’s a boy that’s six, and just alone. I couldn’t imagine at six-years-old being alone. And, you know, seeing it like this and seeing it written, it just um, it just kinda hits differently.”
When asked what she was doing at six, a teary-eyed Regina replied, “I was safe.”
Watch a clip from the episode below:
This emotional episode of “Finding Your Roots” allowed Regina King to connect with her past and better understand her family’s struggles.
Photo: Tinseltown/Shutterstock
