Yahoo Lifestyle Amanda Seyfried learns how her third great-grandfather was murdered on “Finding Your Roots”: 'That's so sad'
"I don't know him but yet he's family, and I'm just like, 'How dare they?' Like, find justice!" she said.
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Amanda SeyfriedFinding Your Roots has uncovered some dramatic lore from Amanda Seyfried's family history.
The Mean Girls star discovers that her third great-grandfather was gruesomely murdered in a clip from the season 11 premiere of the PBS show, which sees host Henry Louis Gates Jr. walk famous guests through surprising moments in their ancestors' lives. "Oh my God, what? Oh my God," Seyfried says as she begins to read the selected clipping from a newspaper.
The article states that John P. Ebert, who was the grandfather of Seyfried's great-grandfather, was a "well-known retired baker, a good citizen and inoffensive man" — and was shot three times at his house on one fateful night in 1905, becoming "so seriously wounded that he cannot possibly recover."
Related: Ciara and Alanis Morissette learn they have actually met their distant cousins on Finding Your Roots
The newspaper goes on to detail how Ebert's "hand was probably on the doorknob" of his back door "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."
Seyfried was taken aback by the revelation. "Oh my God, that's so sad!" she said.
"Your third great-grandfather was murdered. Have you ever heard this story before?" Gates asked.
PBS
Amanda Seyfried on 'Finding Your Roots'"Nope, no. Definitely no," Seyfried said, empathizing with her third-great grandmother, with whom she shares a first name. "Poor Amanda and those kids."
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The actress was emotionally affected by the news. "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.
Previous episodes of the show have turned up similarly dramatic events in celebrities' family histories. Last year, Brendan Fraser learned that his great, great grandfather shot a rival who replaced him while on strike at a coal mine.
Related: Joe Manganiello finds out he's descended from slaves and uncovers a mystery on Finding Your Roots
The show also revealed that Shonda Rhimes, Joe Manganiello, and Maya Rudolph are descended from people who were enslaved prior to the American Civil War.
The series later found a distant family connection between Avengers: Endgame costars Michael Douglas and Scarlett Johansson.
Season 11 of the show will also see Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard, Chrissy Teigen, Joy Behar, Laurence Fishburne, Sharon Stone, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Melanie Lynskey, Michael Imperioli, and more appear as celebrity guests.
Seyfried's appearance on the season 11 premiere of Finding Your Roots will premiere Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 9 p.m. ET on PBS. Watch the full clip above.
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