Finding Out Your Grandfather Is Charles Manson

Finding Out Your Grandfather Is Charles Manson

What would you do if a DNA test revealed you were the granddaughter of the man behind some of the most infamous murders in American history?

That is exactly what happened to Sophia Maddox. At just 22 years old, she learned that her grandfather was Charles Manson. Her father never knew who his dad was, spent years searching through ancestry databases, and then one day a half-brother called with news that would shatter everything: "Are you sitting down? Your father is Charles Manson."

In one of the most jaw-dropping, deeply moving conversations ever on Comfort Food, Kelly Rizzo sits down with the brave and brilliant Sophia Maddox, director of the Hulu documentary MY GRANDFATHER CHARLES MANSON. Sophia opens up about the moment her father found out, the moment SHE found out, and what it actually feels like to share DNA with a man that the world associates with pure evil.

But this episode is about so much more than Charles Manson. It is about generational trauma, about breaking cycles, about a grandmother who took a devastating secret to her grave, and about a young woman who chose radical honesty over comfortable silence. Sophia brought cameras into her own therapy sessions, pitched a documentary to Disney and Hulu as her very first pitch ever, and came out the other side with a story that will stop you in your tracks.

This is raw. This is real. This is one of those episodes you will think about for a long time.

MY GRANDFATHER CHARLES MANSON is streaming now on Hulu.


Also, Join Kelly in Chicago Sept 10-14 2026 for a full luxury culinary and cultural exploration of Chicago. Visit byline.travel/experience/kelly today to reserve your spot.


Follow Kelly on Instagram at @kellyrizzo

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