Sunny Hostin Learns Her Ancestors ‘Likely’ Owned Slaves on Finding Your Roots

Sunny Hostin got a new look at her past.

In the latest episode Searching for your roots on PBS, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. he found that Hostin is only 7 percent indigenous Puerto Rican and that her ancestors “probably” owned slaves.

“Our researchers found that her third great-grandfather, Fermín, was the son of a merchant who was likely involved in the slave trade, and Fermín himself owned at least one human,” Gates Jr. explained. “What’s more, tracing back these lines, we discovered that she hails from Galicia, Spain — evidence of Sunny’s deeper origins and her family ties to Spain’s colonial past.”

When asked about her “palpable connection to Spain,” Hostin noted that her husband, Emmanuel “Manny” Hostin, is part Spanish and part Haitian.

“I’m a little in shock,” she continued. “I always thought of myself as Puerto Rican, you know, half Puerto Rican. I didn’t think my family was from Spain and slave owners.” Hostin said that he thinks it is “great” that he can share this information with his children.

Sunny Hostin and mom Rosa Beza.

Sunny Hostin/ Instagram

“I think it’s actually pretty interesting that my husband and I have common roots, so I appreciate that and I think it’s great for our kids to know this information. I guess it’s a fact of life that some people made a living like that, on the backs of others,” said the television star.

Elsewhere in the episode, View The co-host learned that her third great-grandfather on her father’s side was born into slavery in 1835.

Learning and talking about her past is something Hostin has often been vocal about. Except that I wrote a memoir in 2020. I Am These Truths: A Memoir of Identity, Justice, and Life Between WorldsHostin told PEOPLE in February 2022 that he is Afro-Latino.

Sunny Hostin. Nina Westervelt/Variety via Getty

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Source: HIS Education