Celebrity and Genes

Last week’s post about Angelie Jolie, Brad Pitt, and their new daughter Shiloh generated an incredible amount of attention. Just goes to show you the kind of celebrity culture we live in. So, it should be no surprise that people are trying to prove their genetic link to famous people all the time.

• Tom Bopp and Marie-Antoinette
• Tom Robinson and Genghis Khan
• ??? and William the Conquerer or his barons
• ??? and Robert E. Lee, the Civil War general

Step up if you have DNA evidence of celebrity connections. Personally, I’d like to be tested for a link to Confucius. What about you?

The small fraction of an individual’s DNA that can be used to trace a maternal or paternal lineage, scientists say, has little tangible impact on an individual descendant’s physical characteristics or susceptibility to disease. But for many amateur genealogists, the psychological effect of knowing that they carry a physical artifact, no matter how tiny, of a noteworthy historical figure, can be significant. At any rate, the collision of two pet preoccupations – celebrity and one’s own genes – seems to be fueling sales of genetic ancestry tests.

Although knowing your family history of disease is an important part of understanding your own susceptibility, genealogy is also a lot of fun. In any case, we’re all related to the Jolie-Pitts at some point in human evolution.

International Herald Tribune, June 11, 2006

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