Yes — the story you’re referring to is the famous Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick genealogy discovery, which happened on PBS’s Finding Your Roots. It wasn’t a conventional at-home DNA test taken by Bacon; the program combined genealogical research with DNA analysis and discovered that Bacon and Sedgwick are ninth cousins once removed. Sedgwick also learned that DNA analysis confirmed her Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. PBS+1

Here’s a long-form, publication-ready version:

Kevin Bacon Took a DNA Test — The Result Involved His Wife

Hollywood marriages can produce plenty of memorable stories, but few are quite as unexpected as the revelation involving Kevin Bacon and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick.

For decades, Bacon and Sedgwick have been one of Hollywood's most recognizable couples. They met while working together, married in 1988, raised two children and built careers that repeatedly brought them into the same creative circles.

But in 2012, the couple discovered that their connection went considerably deeper than simply being husband and wife.

During an episode of PBS's Finding Your Roots, host and historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. explored the family histories of both actors. What began as an investigation into their individual ancestry eventually produced a remarkable discovery: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick are distant cousins.

The relationship was identified through genealogical research as ninth cousins once removed.

The discovery was so unexpected that Sedgwick reportedly reacted with immediate disbelief and amusement when she learned the news.

And there was another fascinating twist.

The program used DNA analysis to investigate Sedgwick's maternal ancestry and confirmed that approximately half of the genetic material examined traced to Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry — something that connected with the family history she already knew through her mother's side.

The result made for one of the most memorable celebrity genealogy stories television has ever produced.

Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick Were Already a Hollywood Love Story

Long before anyone connected their family trees, Bacon and Sedgwick had their own remarkable Hollywood story.

The two actors first crossed paths years before becoming romantically involved. According to their Finding Your Roots episode, Sedgwick had seen Bacon perform when she was young, but the pair did not become a couple at that time.

Their real meeting came roughly a decade later, when they were cast together in the television film Lemon Sky.

That meeting changed everything.

Bacon has described being immediately attracted to Sedgwick. Sedgwick, however, was initially less impressed by his personality, describing him as somewhat cocky.

Eventually, attraction turned into something much deeper.

Sedgwick explained on Finding Your Roots that once she got to know Bacon, she experienced a feeling that went beyond physical attraction: she felt at home with him. PBS

The couple became engaged in 1987.

They married on September 4, 1988.

Nearly four decades later, their marriage is still going strong.

In September 2026, the couple celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary, sharing affectionate tributes and even enjoying a low-key canoeing trip together. People.com+1

That longevity makes the genealogy revelation even more interesting.

They didn't simply discover that they were distantly related after getting married.

They had already built an entire life together before learning that their family histories had intersected generations earlier.

The DNA Discovery Happened on "Finding Your Roots"

The story is sometimes retold online as “Kevin Bacon took a DNA test and discovered his wife was his cousin.”

That's catchy, but it isn't quite accurate.

The actual story is more interesting.

Bacon and Sedgwick appeared together on the first season of PBS's Finding Your Roots, hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The episode, titled “Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon,” aired in April 2012.

PBS describes the episode as an exploration of the ancestral pasts of the married actors. Researchers combined traditional genealogy, historical records and DNA analysis to reconstruct parts of their family histories. PBS

This distinction matters because DNA wasn't simply used as a basic consumer ancestry test.

Researchers were tracing family lines through historical documentation while also using genetic evidence to investigate ancestry.

The result was a combination of old-fashioned genealogy and modern science.

And eventually, those two approaches led back to the same surprising conclusion.

Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick were related.

The Moment Kyra Sedgwick Learned About Kevin Bacon

One of the most entertaining parts of the episode was the way Gates revealed the relationship.

Rather than simply announcing that Sedgwick and Bacon were distant cousins, Gates turned the discovery into a version of the famous “Six Degrees of Separation” game.

This was particularly appropriate for Bacon.

The actor had become almost synonymous with the idea of “six degrees of Kevin Bacon,” the popular game in which people try to connect other actors to Bacon through shared film appearances.

But Finding Your Roots created a different kind of six-degrees game.

This time, the connections were based on genealogy.

Gates showed Sedgwick a family tree and began revealing famous people who appeared somewhere in her ancestral network.

Then came the surprise.

One of the names was Kevin Bacon.

The genealogical relationship was identified as ninth cousins once removed. PBS

Sedgwick's reaction was immediate.

She recognized the absurdity of the situation.

After all, she wasn't learning that some obscure celebrity happened to be her distant relative.

She was married to him.

The discovery meant that the couple's relationship could now be described in two ways: they were husband and wife, and they were also very distant cousins.

Bacon Wasn't Supposed to Know — But Sedgwick Couldn't Keep It Secret

The story became even funnier because of what happened afterward.

Gates had asked Sedgwick not to tell Bacon about the discovery before his separate interview.

The plan was presumably to preserve the surprise.

But Sedgwick couldn't keep the secret.

When Bacon appeared for his interview, he already had an idea that something unusual had happened.

He eventually asked the obvious question:

Were they related?

Sedgwick had given away the secret.

Bacon's reaction was characteristically humorous.

The couple laughed about the situation rather than treating the revelation as something disturbing.

Bacon joked that this was one reason they were still married: apparently, if Sedgwick was told not to tell him something, keeping it to herself wasn't going to happen.

The moment perfectly captured the playful relationship the two actors have demonstrated publicly throughout their marriage. PBS

How Closely Related Are They?

The phrase “cousins” can make the discovery sound much more dramatic than it actually is.

Bacon and Sedgwick are not close relatives.

They are ninth cousins once removed.

That is an extremely distant relationship.

Their shared ancestor lived many generations before either actor was born.

In practical terms, the discovery does not mean that the couple grew up in the same family or even had any reason to suspect that their families were connected.

This is one reason distant-cousin discoveries are relatively common in genealogy.

As family trees expand backward through history, the number of ancestors increases dramatically.

Eventually, apparently unrelated families can converge on the same historical individuals.

For people whose families have lived in the same broad regions for generations, these distant connections can be surprisingly common.

The remarkable part of Bacon and Sedgwick's case isn't that two Americans discovered a distant shared ancestor.

It's that they discovered it after becoming a married Hollywood couple.

The DNA Test Revealed Something Else About Kyra Sedgwick

The discovery involving Bacon wasn't the only revelation in the episode.

Researchers also investigated Sedgwick's ancestry.

Her family background included two very different branches.

Her father's side had deep New England roots and a Protestant background.

Her mother's family was Jewish.

Traditional genealogy helped researchers trace these family lines through historical records.

But DNA analysis provided another layer of evidence.

According to the PBS episode, genetic analysis showed that 50% of the genetic material examined traced back to Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. PBS

For Sedgwick, the discovery was significant because it provided genetic confirmation of ancestry connected to her mother's family.

She reacted enthusiastically to the result.

The revelation also became a playful moment during the program because Gates joked about her having briefly been pleased with her Protestant “WASP” ancestry before learning more about her Jewish genetic heritage.

The combination of humor and serious historical research made the episode particularly memorable.

Their Family Trees Were Full of Surprises

The researchers didn't stop with the Bacon-Sedgwick connection.

Both actors discovered that their family histories reached deep into American and British history.

Bacon's ancestry, for example, was traced through historical records to prominent early American families.

The program also identified famous people who shared distant ancestors with him.

Among them were Brad Pitt and former President Barack Obama.

The researchers identified Bacon as 13th cousins twice removed with Brad Pitt and 12th cousins three times removed with Obama, according to the program's genealogical findings. PBS+1

The discoveries demonstrated just how interconnected historical family trees can become.

But even those celebrity connections couldn't compete with the biggest revelation.

Bacon's most unexpected genealogical connection was sitting beside him.

His wife.

The “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” Joke Became Real

There is a particularly fitting irony in all of this.

For decades, Kevin Bacon's name has been associated with the “six degrees” concept.

The game asks how many steps it takes to connect virtually any actor to Bacon.

It became part of popular culture because Hollywood is filled with overlapping professional relationships.

But Finding Your Roots effectively created a completely different version of the game.

Instead of asking how many movies separate two actors, the program asked how many generations separate them.

And the result was one of the strangest possible answers:

Bacon and his wife were connected through their family trees.

In a way, the discovery was almost too perfect for an actor whose name had already become synonymous with connections.

The actor known for being connected to everybody in Hollywood turned out to have a genealogical connection to his own spouse.

Their Marriage Has Lasted Far Longer Than Most Hollywood Unions

The genealogy discovery happened more than a decade ago.

Since then, Bacon and Sedgwick have continued their relationship.

They married in 1988 and have two children, Travis and Sosie Bacon.

Their longevity has repeatedly attracted public attention because both actors have remained successful while maintaining a long-term marriage in an industry known for short-lived relationships.

In September 2026, they marked their 38th anniversary. Bacon shared a photograph of the couple with the caption “38 years with my love,” while Sedgwick posted photographs from a relaxed anniversary weekend. People.com+1

The couple's approach to marriage has often been surprisingly down-to-earth.

Sedgwick has previously joked that people probably shouldn't take relationship advice from celebrities.

She has also said that luck played a role in their marriage.

But she has emphasized the importance of being comfortable with yourself before entering a relationship and allowing another person to love you for who you are.

She later highlighted humor as an important part of their relationship, describing Bacon as extremely funny. People.com

After 38 years together, that combination seems to have served them well.

They Even Work Together as a Family

The Bacon-Sedgwick family has also continued to collaborate professionally.

In 2026, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick worked together as co-directors on Family Movie, a comedy-horror project that also features their children, Travis and Sosie.

The film represents another example of the unusual closeness within the family.

Bacon described working with Sedgwick as a natural experience, noting that she was there to support him if he forgot something or missed a detail during production. People.com

Their children also participated in the project.

The family appeared together at the film's New York premiere in August 2026, providing another public glimpse of the family dynamic. People.com

So while the DNA discovery was unexpected, the family's continued professional collaboration shows that the relationship between Bacon and Sedgwick goes far beyond the headline.

Does Being Ninth Cousins Matter?

For most practical purposes, no.

The fact that Bacon and Sedgwick share an ancestor so many generations back does not mean they have a close biological relationship.

“Ninth cousin once removed” represents a very distant connection.

The term “once removed” indicates that the two people are separated by one generation in their relationship to the shared ancestral line.

It sounds complicated because it is.

Genealogical terminology can be confusing, especially when the relationship reaches many generations into the past.

The simplest way to understand it is this:

Bacon and Sedgwick have a common ancestor somewhere far back in their family trees.

Their family branches eventually separated.

Many generations later, those branches produced Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick.

They met independently, fell in love and married without knowing about that distant connection.

Only sophisticated genealogical research revealed the link.

Why DNA Testing Can Produce Unexpected Results

The Bacon-Sedgwick story also highlights one of the most fascinating aspects of modern DNA testing.

People often take ancestry tests expecting a simple percentage breakdown.

They might discover that they are 40% one ancestry, 30% another and so on.

But genetic genealogy can reveal something much more personal.

DNA can uncover biological relationships that aren't obvious from family stories.

It can identify distant relatives.

It can confirm or challenge traditional genealogical records.

And sometimes it can reveal information that families never knew.

In the case of Bacon and Sedgwick, DNA and genealogical research added another layer to an already unusual relationship.

However, the couple's story is an important reminder that genealogy isn't only about percentages.

It's about people.

Every genetic connection exists because of a human family story that began generations earlier.

Why the Story Continues to Fascinate People

There are several reasons the Bacon-Sedgwick discovery continues to circulate online.

First, it involves two extremely famous actors.

Second, they were already married when the discovery was made.

Third, the revelation happened on television in front of cameras.

Fourth, the couple responded with humor rather than fear or embarrassment.

And finally, it fits perfectly with Kevin Bacon's public association with the idea of interconnectedness.

The headline “Kevin Bacon is related to his wife” sounds unbelievable.

But the reality is much more nuanced.

They're not close relatives.

They're distant cousins separated by many generations.

The discovery doesn't change their family relationship in any meaningful everyday sense.

Instead, it offers an extraordinary glimpse into how interconnected human family trees can become.

The Real Surprise Wasn't That They Were Related

Perhaps the most interesting way to look at the story is this:

The DNA and genealogy didn't create a new connection between Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick.

They revealed a connection that had already existed for centuries.

Long before Bacon became a Hollywood actor, long before Sedgwick became famous, and long before the two met on the set of Lemon Sky, their ancestors had already crossed paths somewhere in history.

The couple simply didn't know about it.

Their lives eventually brought them together independently.

They fell in love.

They married.

They had children.

They built careers.

And decades later, a television genealogy program looked backward and discovered that their family trees had been intertwined all along.

That's what makes the story so fascinating.

Nearly Four Decades Later, They're Still Together

The most remarkable part of the Bacon-Sedgwick story may ultimately have nothing to do with DNA.

It's their marriage.

In 2026, the couple reached their 38th wedding anniversary.

They continue to appear together publicly, collaborate professionally and celebrate each other's birthdays and milestones.

Their children are adults, and the family has even worked together on a film project.

Recent coverage of their anniversary described the pair celebrating with a simple canoeing trip rather than an extravagant Hollywood event. People.com

That image is almost more revealing than the genealogy story itself.

The couple who discovered they were distant cousins has spent nearly four decades proving that their relationship is much more than an unusual entry on a family tree.

The Bottom Line

So, did Kevin Bacon really discover through DNA that his wife was his cousin?

Sort of — but the viral version needs some clarification.

The discovery happened during PBS's Finding Your Roots, where researchers combined traditional genealogical research with DNA analysis.

The program determined that Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick are ninth cousins once removed. PBS

The same episode also used DNA analysis to confirm significant Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry on Sedgwick's maternal side.

The revelation surprised the couple, but rather than causing concern, it became another funny chapter in their long relationship.

And perhaps that's the best part of the entire story.

They didn't meet because they knew they were related.

They didn't marry because their family trees connected.

They didn't spend decades wondering about a shared ancestor.

They simply met, fell in love and built a life together.

Then, years later, they discovered that history had quietly connected them long before they ever met.

For Kevin Bacon, an actor whose name became famous for connecting people through the “six degrees” game, discovering that his own wife was a distant relative feels almost like a Hollywood script.

Except this one really happened.

And unlike a movie plot, there was no dramatic twist ending.

There was simply laughter, surprise, a fascinating family tree — and two people who were already committed to spending their lives together.

Nearly four decades after their wedding, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick remain together.

Their unexpected genealogical connection may make for a great headline.

But their enduring marriage is the much bigger story.

The factual basis for the article comes primarily from PBS’s original Finding Your Roots episode, with current details about their 38th anniversary and 2026 family collaboration cross-checked against recent reporting. PBS+2