Former Disney Channel star Dylan Sprouse has dropped a shocking bombshell about his family’s past, claiming that he and his famous twin brother, Cole Sprouse, are the “children of incest” after uncovering an unexpected connection between their parents’ family trees.
The 34-year-old actor, who rose to fame alongside Cole on the hit Disney series “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,” revealed the startling discovery during the October 20 episode of his “Wildmen” podcast.
What began as a simple attempt to learn more about his ancestry quickly turned into a bizarre investigation that left even his twin brother wanting nothing to do with the revelation.
Dylan explained that he had been using the genealogy service Ancestry to trace relatives, particularly on his father’s side, where family relationships had become strained over the years.
As he connected with previously unknown relatives and compared family histories, he uncovered a surprising connection dating back more than a century.
According to Dylan, both sides of his family traveled to California during the Gold Rush in the 1800s. One group of ancestors reportedly struck gold and used the money to relocate additional relatives from North Carolina.
The two family lines eventually became connected through marriage in the late 1800s before separating into different branches.
Generations later, those branches came together again when Dylan and Cole’s parents, Matthew Sprouse and Melanie Wright, met and married.
The discovery was particularly unsettling to Dylan because neither parent apparently knew about the historical connection.
But the biggest surprise came when he began examining the family’s unusual history of twins.
Dylan said he had always believed the family’s tendency to have twins came exclusively from his mother’s side, which reportedly included seven sets of twins across four generations.
However, his research revealed that his father’s family also included identical twins, raising even more questions about the family’s ancestry.
Dylan immediately contacted Cole to share what he had discovered, but his brother was less than enthusiastic.
After Dylan sent him a picture of the findings, Cole reportedly refused to examine it and abruptly ended their conversation.
The actor eventually delivered his startling conclusion.
“Long story short, Cole and I are children of incest,” Dylan declared.
Despite the shocking statement, the actor’s account does not establish that his parents were closely related. His research described marriages connecting distant branches of the family more than a century ago, and he did not provide enough information to establish the exact biological relationship between his parents.
His suggestion that the family’s unusual number of twins resulted from those historical connections is also unproven. Identical twins generally occur when a fertilized egg divides into two embryos, and most cases are not believed to be inherited.
Nevertheless, Dylan’s comments quickly attracted attention, prompting Cole to address the bizarre headlines circulating about their family.
On Instagram, Cole shared a screenshot of one report about the revelation and joked, “No media training on earth can prep you to read this clickbait headline at 10am.”
Dylan appeared to enjoy the attention, joking on his own social media account that the headline was so good he wanted to print it out and hang it up.
The unexpected family revelation comes during a major new chapter in Dylan’s personal life.
He and his wife, Hungarian supermodel Barbara Palvin, recently welcomed their first child, a daughter named Sylvie. The couple married in 2023 and announced their daughter’s arrival in September.
Palvin also made headlines when she returned to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway on October 18, just six weeks after giving birth, with Dylan cheering her on from the audience.
While Dylan is embracing fatherhood, his latest discovery has certainly given the Sprouse family an unusual story to pass down to the next generation.
And judging by Cole’s reaction, it may be one family secret he would have preferred to leave buried.
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