Barack Obama’s Surprising Hollywood Relative
When it comes to family trees, you never know whose branches might be tangled with yours. For former U.S. President Barack Obama, that twist comes in the form of an unexpected Hollywood superstar—and it’s a connection many fans never saw coming.
Famous Faces and Unlikely Kinships
In the world of celebrities, strange family ties are nothing new. Madonna once discovered she shares ancestry with Pope Leo XIII, and Kevin Bacon learned his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, was a distant cousin. Obama, as it turns out, has his own surprising link to a leading man straight from Hollywood’s A-list.
Obama and Brad Pitt: Family by Blood (Barely)
During a 2008 appearance on The View, Joy Behar pressed Obama about a rumored famous relative. His answer drew laughs—Brad Pitt, the Fight Club icon, is actually his ninth cousin.
“I guess we’re ninth cousins, something removed—or something,” Obama quipped, before adding with a grin, “I think he got the better-looking side of the gene pool.”
The genealogy checks out. Both Obama and Pitt descend from Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769, making them distant relatives. Genealogist Christopher Child told The Guardian that such connections aren’t unusual when families originate from the same region—in this case, the American South.
Political Meets Hollywood—Again
Obama isn’t the only politician with cinematic ties. Hillary Clinton and Angelina Jolie—Pitt’s former wife—are also ninth cousins, tracing their roots back to Jean Cusson, who died in Quebec in 1718. Clinton’s French-Canadian heritage even links her distantly to Madonna, Celine Dion, and Alanis Morissette.
As Child put it, “It shows lots of different people can be related—people you wouldn’t necessarily expect.” And in this case, the White House and Hollywood just happen to share the same family tree.