From “improper” to educator! The Talk‘s Julie Chen traces her family tree back to China in the premiere of TLC’s genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are?, and in the process discovers the juicy truth about her grandfather’s past.
The Chinese-American Big Brother host’s maternal grandfather died before she was born, but she grew up knowing that he was a wealthy businessman with an inspirational rags-to-riches backstory. In Who Do You Think You Are?, she ends up learning that although a newspaper article about his life described his childhood as “improper” — whatever that means! — he was actually a World War II hero who achieved financial success and returned to his Chinese hometown of Anxi to build a school.
In Us Weekly’s exclusive clip of the episode, watch Chen learn more about her grandfather’s character. “Pretty fearless,” she says when she realizes how risky some of his actions during World War II were. “That’s very admirable.”
Watch Chen find out more about her grandfather’s dramatic life and even visit her relatives in China on the Who Do You Think You Are? season 6 premiere on Sunday, March 8 at 10 p.m. on TLC!
