NEWSThe View's Sara Haines Burts Into Tears After Finding Out She's Related to a Former U.S. President: 'He's a Good One!'
Sara Haines couldn't hold back her emotions when learning about her lineage,
Feb. 5 2026, Published 3:34 p.m. ET
Sara Haines got emotional on the Thursday, February 5, episode of The View, as Finding Your Roots host Henry Louis Gates Jr. revealed she's related to two former U.S. presidents.
On the talk show, they played a short clip from Haines and Gates Jr.'s interview, where he shared the exciting news with her.
Sara Haines Is Related to a Former U.S. President
Sara Haines cried in amazement after learning she was related to John Adams.
"Do you know who that is?" Gates Jr. asked Haines during their private chat, showing her a photo.
"He looks like a lot of people in my history book," she replied, then realizing the man was John Adams, who was the commander-in-chief from 1797 to 1801.
The former president is Sara Haines' 'third cousin, nine times removed.'
"He is your third cousin, nine times removed!" the PBS star confirmed.
Haines' jaw dropped at the announcement, and she then giggled a little and covered her face with her hands as she cried in disbelief.
"Oh my God. I'm related to a president! And he was a good one!" she quipped of the second-ever POTUS.
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'Finding Your Roots' host Henry Louis Gates Jr. revealed Sara Haines is only the second person he's met who is related to a president.
Back on The View, Gates Jr. clarified Haines is "related not to one president, but to two presidents," as Adams' son John Quincy Adams was the POTUS from 1825 to 1829. Haines once again got teary-eyed.
"We only had one other guest in the history of the series who was related to a president, unhappily so, and that was Michael Moore, who was related to Herbert Hoover," he revealed. "You are our first guest happily related to two United States presidents!"
How Is Sara Haines Related to John Adams?
'The View' star is related to John Adams via her maternal grandfather.
Gates Jr. explained she was related via her maternal grandfather, as when they followed his mother's ancestry as far back as they could, they came to a man named Henry Adams, who is Haines' 11th great-grandfather.
"He was born in England sometimes in the late 1500s, and by 1640, he had settled in the colony of Massachusetts. And he connects Sarah to some very illustrious people," the PBS star explained.
"And he's here today!" Joy Behar joked.
Sara Haines' Other Relatives
Henry Louis Gates Jr. offered to dig into Alyssa Farah Griffin's lineage as well.
Elsewhere on the ABC show, Gates Jr. shared that Haines had a German relative in the 1700s who once served prison time after trying to get a pregnant woman to abort his child by taking herbs. He was sentenced and ordered to pay child support for a decade, but two years in, he sailed off to America.
Gates Jr. noted that over the years, he's also looked into Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin's lineages, leaving Alyssa Farah Griffin as the only one at the table who hadn't been on his show.
"Would you be against finding your roots?" he asked the pregnant star, who smile and responded, "I'd be beyond honored!"
