Finding Your Roots, a PBS documentary that takes a deep dive into celebrities' family history, now entering its 10th season, recently had an episode featuring 90s rock star sensation Alanis Morissette, in which she spoke extensively about her Jewish heritage and discovering that both her grandfather's siblings had perished in WWII Soviet labor camps and that her grandfather, Imre Feuerstein, tried to find them to no success.
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"I did not know this," an emotional Morissette said. "Not knowing if your sibling is alive or dead? God..."
The Canadian music star said it wasn't until she was 28 that she had come to learn more about her Jewish heritage, seeing as her grandmother, fearing reprisal, kept it a secret. "I'm appalled just thinking about it, and after hearing stories from my mother, it's just inconceivable to me."
Upon seeing the evidence of her grandfather's brothers dying during the Holocaust, presented by show host Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alanis promised she would inform her children about that part of their family's history.
The Grammy-winning music star spoke of her grandfather's decision to flee Hungary after the 1956 Hungarian uprising that was thwarted by Soviet tanks. "They came off the train and someone had whispered to disembark from the other side, so they did. When they looked back, they saw everyone being executed."
While her grandfather was successful in his attempt to reach Canada, both he and his mother-in-law were subsequently killed in a car accident, not long after Alanis herself was born. Referencing that event brought Morissette to tears, as she spoke of how her mother pushed that event down, burying it deep and never bringing it up again. "She focused on raising her children and going back to work, never speaking about it again. My grandmother was more open with me about it, mostly because I wouldn't let it go."
On top of the discovery regarding her grandfather, Morissette additionally found out she's a distant relative of none other than "Homeland" star, Claire Danes. "I worked with her in the past. I'm really fond of her," she said.