Some family stories shape you. Others challenge everything you thought you knew. For actress, producer, and first-time director Sophia Maddox (you probably saw her in Bunheads!), a shocking DNA discovery led to My Grandfather Charles Manson—a deeply personal documentary that explores identity, generational trauma, and the courage it takes to break harmful cycles.
As the documentary continues to gain popularity and pick up conversation on Hulu, we caught up with Sophia to talk about healing, hard conversations, and why the past doesn't have to define your future.
Can you take us back to the moment you discovered this family connection? How did it reshape the way you saw yourself?
It was a shocking moment I’ll never forget. I was in the passenger seat of my car, and I just leaned forward and sobbed very hard. My dad was driving, and he put his arm around me and kept repeating, “We’re nothing like him.” It didn’t reshape the way I saw myself… I think I just began to question how we come from someone so opposite of what we ever expected. I had so many questions I wanted answers to.
Why did it feel important for you to tell this story yourself?
About six months into digging deeper into Manson’s upbringing and the crimes themselves, I learned how juvenile systems work, what men’s correctional facilities teach a person, how the media worked, how prosecutors construct and present a case… As I went further, I realized there was more than what the headlines and the prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi were saying in his book Helter Skelter, which positioned itself as the final word on who Charles Manson is. Putting all of this together led me to some larger, universal questions. A big one was, “Without understanding and investigating the conditions and institutions or systems that contribute to destructive behavior, how can we imagine a world where we can break that cycle?”
I was overwhelmed with information, having more questions than answers and at the same time going through a heavily traumatic time for my family. It was a lot to process, and as an artist I navigate these emotional states through my work. I was already a filmmaker with my own production company, so I decided this was a story worth telling, and perhaps people could learn from what I was experiencing. I spent the next year developing the film with my producer Eric Cook before getting attached with Hulu and my co-director Allie Orton. So the decision happened over time, and kept getting solidified the more I dug into the story.
Throughout the filmmaking process, did your understanding of your family—and yourself—change in ways you didn't expect?
The knowledge and information I came into was not expected in the slightest, but it felt good to find answers and explanations. Finally being able to define what I was experiencing but could not articulate—words like parentified child, intergenerational trauma, maladaptive coping mechanisms—the more empowered I felt. My therapist likes to use the phrase “name it to tame it.” Now that I'm more aware of what’s going on around me, I'm able to free myself of it and stop the cycle from continuing.
A major theme of the documentary is breaking generational trauma. What does that phrase mean to you today?
It means each generation getting better than the last. Leaving behind coping mechanisms that in the moment feel like it helps for your survival, but it ultimately is self sabotage or leaves you isolated. Getting help, asking for it, is a strong move. Using the tools my ancestors didn’t have but are in front of me is key.
What advice would you give someone who's beginning to unpack difficult family dynamics for the first time?
My advice would be to find a mentor or therapist whom you really trust. Everyone needs help and guidance—even great therapists have mentors and therapists of their own. You don't have to navigate unpacking difficult family dynamics alone.
What do you hope viewers who are navigating complicated family relationships take away from your story?
