L.A. Woman Makes Shocking Discovery: My Grandfather Was Charles Manson (Exclusive)

After her father learned he was the son of the murder cult leader, Sophia Maddox went on a quest to find out what it means to be related to an infamous criminal

NEED TO KNOW

• Los Angeles actress Sophia Maddox discovered her grandfather was infamous murderer Charles Manson after her father’s DNA test confirmed the connection
• Maddox’s emotional journey of self-discovery is chronicled in the new Hulu documentary My Grandfather Charles Manson
• The documentary explores Manson’s life through interviews with former cult members and Maddox’s efforts to break her family’s generational trauma

In 2022, Sophia Maddox was a typical Hollywood dreamer. The then-22-year-old Los Angeles native had appeared in TV commercials and had a few screen credits but was still working odd jobs — she was a nanny, bussed tables and taught ballet — to pay the rent while going on auditions. Then her life as a typical “L.A. cliche” life suddenly changed direction following a trip to New York City.

“I caught COVID on the plane ride home,” recalls Maddox, now 26, who asked her dad, Daniel Arguelles, if he would take her to get tested. While the two were on the phone, Arguelles dropped a bombshell. “It just popped up. He said, ‘I think I found out who my dad is. And if it’s true, it’s really dark,’ ” Maddox says.

Arguelles, who was raised by his mother and stepfather, had never known his biological father. But he submitted DNA to a genealogy website in 2015, and then, earlier that year, he matched with another user fathered by the same man. Their dad was the infamous murderer Charles Manson.

Unfamiliar with the full details of his story at the time, Maddox’s most immediate point of reference was Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film depicting an alternate reality about the cult leader and the events leading up to the Manson family’s infamous Tate–LaBianca murders in 1969.

Over two nights in August 1969, Manson orchestrated the killings of then-pregnant actress Sharon Tate, hairdresser Jay Sebring, heiress Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, a friend of Tate’s husband Roman Polanski and houseguest Steven Parent as well as business owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

Manson was convicted on seven counts of first-degree murder and was sent to prison, where he died in 2017 at the age of 83.)

Maddox was stunned to discover she was related to one of the most reviled criminals in American history. “My stomach turned into the most knots I’ve ever felt in my life,” she recalls. “I just bent over and sobbed.”

The devastating news sent Maddox on a deeply emotional journey of self-discovery that’s chronicled in the new Hulu documentary My Grandfather Charles Manson, premiering Wednesday, July 22 on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally.

“I started recording myself,” Maddox says of the time she spent processing her feelings before teaming up with co-director Alexandra Orton to chronicle her deep dive into Manson’s violent youth, mental health issues, life of crime and portrayal as a monster in the media.

That included a visit to an Indiana boys reform school where he was sent and conversations with former members of Manson’s “family,” including Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme; Dianne Lake, who met Manson at a party when she was 14; and Stephanie Schram, his last known girlfriend.

“I was interested in hearing from people who knew him — not the media’s interpretation, not a prosecutor’s interpretation. I’ve gathered my own opinions on him,” says Maddox, who was determined to come out on the other side of what her father often referred to as the “family curse” caused by generational trauma that he suffered from and sometimes imposed on her. 

Born in El Segundo, Calif., Maddox was raised in separate homes by her divorced mom and dad in the shadow of Hollywood. Her dreams of breaking into the industry grew out of her dad’s passion for movies. Daniel, an artist and author who found early success as an actor and model, would regularly take her to the Redondo Beach Public Library to pick out classics for them to watch.

“It was like film school. He told me what was good cinematography, what was good directing, what was good acting,” recalls Maddox, who caught the acting bug at age 12. “I realized I wanted to be on set forever. I liked experiencing something bigger than myself, so I have been chasing that ever since.”

But there were also inescapable questions about her family. The identity of her paternal grandfather remained a mystery. “I would ask my grandmother [Darlene Arguelles] as a kid, ‘Who’s my dad’s dad?’ ” says Maddox. According to family stories,

Darlene had a fling with a man named Charlie Dear, whom she met at a bus station when she was 17. Ten years after Daniel was born in 1959, Manson was in the headlines, and Darlene made the connection that he was Daniel’s father — a secret she kept until her death in 2020.

Two years later, after an extensive search on Ancestry.com, Daniel found Michael Brunner, one of Manson’s three previously known sons. Another DNA test confirmed their paternal link.

After learning the truth about her grandfather, Maddox started documenting her story. And during that process, she connected with Brunner, who has kept a low profile since he was adopted by his maternal grandparents in the 1960s. It was him who offered his support, especially after Maddox and Daniel’s relationship became strained over her exploration of painful family history.

“[Brunner] encouraged me. He sent me books, was always on the phone if I needed to process,” says Maddox, who hasn’t seen her father since an angry confrontation included in the film. Yet, “I hold space for whatever he needs to do for himself.”

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Despite what may have been broken between her and Daniel, “I do believe in this journey, I really broke the curse for myself,” Maddox continues, adding: “The biggest gift I gave myself was finding my family’s truth, not just inheriting the sensational ones.”

My Grandfather Charles Manson is available to stream starting Wednesday, July 22, on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally.

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