With all the controversy over whether Lady Gaga is blatantly ripping off Madonna, and — let’s not lie, you guys — their shared penchant for disco beats, border-pushing ensembles and queen-of-pop titles, it makes sense that something like this would come to light. Turns out that Lady Gaga, née Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta and Madonna, née Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone are actually distant cousins. That is, they’re ninth cousins once removed, according to Celebrity genealogist Chris Child, of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Their joint relations, Child says, were a “French immigrant farming couple who came to Quebec in the 1600s.” How quaint, and yet somehow apropos. May we suggest a double world tour in matching French-Canadian farming costumes? We would like that. We would like that very much.
[via Gothamist]