Former Disney Channel star Dylan Sprouse has continued to joke about the claim that he and his twin brother Cole are 'children of incest,' following an ancestry investigation that revealed their parents' families had been connected for generations.
The 34-year-old actor, best known for starring alongside his identical twin in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, shared the discovery on the Wildmen podcast, explaining that what began as an innocent attempt to trace their family tree ended with an unexpected connection dating back to the California Gold Rush in the 1800s.
Ancestry investigation reveals family connection
Dylan said he used the genealogy service Ancestry to learn more about his relatives, particularly those on his father's side. 'I've found a lot of family members, weirdly, who I never met, because my dad's side of the family is pretty fractured,' he said. 'I started to talk to them, compare and contrast.'
According to Dylan, both sides of his family travelled west during the Gold Rush, with one group of ancestors striking gold and using their newfound wealth to relocate relatives from North Carolina. The two families became connected through marriage in the late 19th century, before their descendants went their separate ways.
Generations later, those branches of the family tree came together again when Dylan and Cole's parents met and married. Dylan said he called his brother to share the news: 'I called Cole, I showed him a picture, I was like, "Dude, I just found out some crazy s***."'
Twins in the family
Dylan explained that he had become suspicious after discovering identical twins among his father's relatives, having previously believed the family's history of twins came exclusively from his mother's side. 'We had seven sets of twins in four generations,' he said, before offering his own explanation: 'Because it's the same family!'
The actor insisted that neither of his parents had any idea about their ancestral connection. 'It's my dad and my mom. They had no idea. So, then I'm looking at this, and I go, "What the hell?"'
He also shared a family anecdote involving an aunt who, he claimed, had absorbed her twin in the womb, with a cyst later found to contain teeth and hair.
Joke and new fatherhood
Dylan arrived at his dramatic conclusion: 'Long story short, Cole and I are children of incest.' He also shared a meme on his Instagram Story featuring a crying man ranting about why first cousins shouldn't marry, with the caption 'Haha long jaw go brrrrr.'
While the actor's account suggests his parents may share distant ancestors, that does not necessarily mean they are closely related, and Dylan did not establish the exact degree of their biological relationship. Nor is a history of twins in a family evidence of incest.
The revelation comes as Dylan and his wife, Hungarian model Barbara Palvin, welcomed their first child together. The couple, who married in 2023, recently became parents to a daughter named Sylvie. Speaking to E! News about fatherhood, Dylan said his daughter was already beginning to recognise familiar faces: 'She's smiling and laughing at my jokes, which is all a dad can really dream of.'
