A new study has discovered that Sydney Sweeney is related to Marilyn Monroe.
Sweeney has been compared to Monroe on multiple occasions, and has leant into the similarities at red carpet events. At the premiere for The Housemaid in 2025, Sweeney wore a white dress that seemed inspired by the famous Monroe outfit from 1955’s The Seven Year Itch and many believed that her look for the 2025 Governor’s Ball was also inspired by Monroe.
Earlier this year, she wore a vintage Ceil Chapman gown that resembled the one Monroe wore on the cover of a 1952 LIFE magazine.
Sydney Sweeney clearly had Marilyn Monroe on her mood board when she got ready for the Governors Awards red carpet on Sunday.
: Getty; Shutterstock pic.twitter.com/VjkiWCgZOP
— Page Six (@PageSix) November 17, 2025
And now genealogy company MyHeritage has completed a study that proves that Sydney Sweeney and Marilyn Monroe are related. According to their findings, the actors are ninth cousins, once removed. They share mutual ancestor Ezra Perry (1625–1689), who was an early English settler in Sandwich, Massachusetts.
“People have always drawn parallels between Sydney Sweeney and Marilyn Monroe, but seeing their paths align on a deeper level inspired us to look for a real bond in the MyHeritage archives,” said MyHeritage’s Roi Mandel.
“Uncovering their shared branch was incredible, it’s a powerful reminder that humanity is one vast family tree, and when we dig deep, we uncover how remarkably interconnected we all are.”
Earlier this week it was reported that Sweeney is “serious” about converting to Judaism and has started talking to Scooter Braun about marriage. MyHeritage’s report claims this draws another parallel to Monroe, who converted to Judaism in 1956 before marrying Arthur Miller.
First look at Dakota Johnson as Marilyn Monroe in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s short film ‘FLESH IMPACT.’
(Source: https://t.co/PLGh4vTNMC) pic.twitter.com/HMCxqNCAU9
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) July 27, 2026
While Sweeney has never played the Hollywood legend onscreen, both Dakota Johnson and Ellen Burstyn portray versions of Marilyn Monroe in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s short film Flesh Impact, which premiered last month at the Venice Film Festival. MyHeritage have also discovered that Johnson is Monroe’s ninth cousin, three times removed.
“With a new film bringing Marilyn Monroe back into the spotlight, our research team wanted to see whether there was a deeper family connection. Discovering that Dakota Johnson and Marilyn Monroe are related turns the casting into a real-life family story,” said a researcher in a statement.
Last month, Sweeney was criticised by several Olympic athletes over a NSFW sports betting ad. “It’s 2026…stop sexualising women in sport,” wrote British athlete Lucy Davis. It comes after she fronted a controversial American Eagle “great jeans” advertising campaign that was accused of having racist undertones. Sweeney didn’t respond at first but later said that she did not “support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign”.
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