Discovering your grandfather is Charles Manson isn't where most family stories start, and for Sophia Maddox, it's where everything nearly came apart. In a new Hulu/Disney+ documentary she co-directs, My Grandfather Charles Manson, the 26-year-old confronts the late cult leader's legacy, the shocking DNA test that revealed her connection, and the question that haunts her: what it means to be descended from a man responsible for some of the most infamous murders in Los Angeles history, per the Los Angeles Times. "I come from a murderer," an emotional Maddox tells a therapist as the film begins. She later adds: "How could my blood do something so atrocious? How could my blood be the cause of other people's bloodshed?"
The Times notes that the film is as much about Maddox's father, Daniel Arguelles, as it is about Manson. Arguelles learned even later in life that Manson was his father, a revelation that sent him into a mental health spiral and strained his once-close bond with his daughter, captured in painful on-camera confrontations, including a nasty argument between the two in a car. "I haven't spoken to him since that fight," Maddox now says, adding that "my door is always open." Through therapy; interviews with former Manson followers, prosecutors, and scholars; and the support of co-director Alexandra Orton, Maddox says she moves from feeling "tethered" to Manson to believing she can break that lineage. For a deeper look at how the documentary was made—and what it cost Maddox—read the full piece here.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
