Edward Norton regrets ancestors enslaved people: 'Uncomfortable'

Fight Club star Edward Norton revealed 'uncomfortable' truth that his forefathers owned salves.

According to Metro, in the PBS show Finding Your Roots, the host historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. first made the revelation to the 53-year-old actor.

"What's it like to see that?" Gates Jr. asked after presenting the actor with a photo of a family of seven.

The American History X star responded, "The short answer is, these things are uncomfortable, and you should be uncomfortable with them. Everybody should be uncomfortable with it."

"It's not a judgment on you and your own life, but it's a judgment on the history of this country. It needs to be acknowledged first and foremost, and then it needs to be contended with," Norton said.

"When you go away from census counts, and you personalize things, you're talking about, possibly, a husband and wife with five girls – and these girls are slaves. Born into slavery."

Gates Jr. responded, "Born into slavery and in slavery in perpetuity."

"Yeah," Norton said. "Again, when you read 'slave aged 8,' you just want to die."

It is pertinent to mention here that Benedict Cumberbatch's family could be asked to compensate Barbados on behalf of his ancestor's role in the slave trade.