Hold the front page! Marilyn Monroe is Dakota Johnson’s ninth cousin three times removed
A genealogy press release says Dakota Johnson and Marilyn Monroe are ninth cousins three times removed, sharing ancestors who were 17th-century English settlers in Maryland. The claim has been highlighted ahead of Johnson portraying Monroe in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s short film Flesh Impact, due to premiere at the Venice film festival for Monroe’s centenary.
The article treats the distant connection humorously and places it within a broader fashion for revealing celebrity family links. It cites Kit Harington’s relationship to Gunpowder Plot figure Robert Catesby and Benedict Cumberbatch’s reported links to Richard III, Arthur Conan Doyle and Alan Turing, while noting the vast distances involved in such genealogical relationships.
- Dakota Johnson is reportedly distantly related to Marilyn Monroe.
- Johnson will portray Monroe in Flesh Impact.
- Celebrity ancestry claims often involve very remote family links.