In late August 2024, a rumor surfaced on social media that former Disney Channel stars Olivia Rodrigo and Jenna Ortega are cousins. Several X users shared posts insisting the two stars are related.
One account tweeted: “Ok am I just living under a rock? Did everyone know that Olivia Rodrigo and Jenna Ortega are COUSINS?!?!?!”
Another X user made the claim in a post that had amassed more than 7.7 million views, adding: “Their moms are actually sisters.”
(iz ⭑/X)
Despite the speculation, the claim that singer Rodrigo and actor Ortega are cousins was false. There was no evidence suggesting they were related by blood or by marriage and no credible news outlets had reported that being the case. The two are close friends, but there is no family connection between them.
Snopes reached out to the pair for comment on the rumor and will update this article if or when we receive a response.
Rodrigo and Ortega both grew up in Southern California but have different ethnic backgrounds. Ortega, 21, is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent and was raised in the Palm Desert area. Rodrigo, also 21, identifies as Filipino-American and grew up in Riverside County, about 80 miles from where Ortega was raised. In interviews and available biographical details, neither star had mentioned a familial connection.
Culture and technology outlet Wired posted a Q&A with Rodrigo on YouTube in September 2023, where she confirmed her friendship with Ortega. However, she did not mention any family ties. Rodrigo said:
Jenna and I grew up together on the Disney Channel, which is a very strange way to grow up, but I’ve always thought she was the coolest and [I’m] so happy for her and all of her success. I truly don’t know anyone more kind or deserving.
Rodrigo interviewed Ortega in a November 2022 feature for British magazine The Face. They discussed their time working together on the Disney Channel and their careers since, but made no mention of any familial connection. Instead, the interview highlighted their friendship, noting that they first met on the set of “Bizaardvark” and reconnected at the MTV Movie & TV Awards.
Ortega’s family history has been documented in the media and in various interviews. In a February 2022 obituary for her grandfather, Anthony “Tony” Larriva Ortega — published in local Palm Springs newspaper The Desert Sun — Ortega, her siblings and her cousins were listed as survivors, but Rodrigo’s name did not appear.
Speaking to PopSugar in 2016, Ortega detailed her family background:
I am 75 percent Mexican and 25 percent Puerto Rican. My greatgrandma on my mother’s side migrated from a small ranch near Sinaloa, Mexico … My mom’s father was born in Puerto Rico, moved to New York with his family when he was a baby, and then moved to California during his high school years.
My father is 100 percent Mexican, but his family moved to California generations before he was born … We are not really sure which part of Mexico my dad’s family is from. It is a mystery!
Rodrigo had also spoken about her family background, telling the nonprofit Center for Asian American Media in 2018 about her Filipino ethnicity:
My great-grandfather immigrated here from the Philippines when he was just a teenager. He’s my grandma’s dad, and my grandpa is also Filipino as well.
She also made no mention of any relation to Ortega.
As young Disney Channel stars, the pair were featured in marketing campaigns to speak about their respective backgrounds. In 2017, Rodrigo discussed her family background as part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, while in 2016, Ortega brought cameras into her home and introduced viewers to her family as part of Hispanic Heritage Month. Neither mentioned any relation with the other in these videos.
Therefore, we have rated this claim as “False.”
Snopes has previously fact-checked claims about familial relations, including the truth behind former President Barack Obama and actor Brad Pitt being distant cousins, and another true claim that Tom Hanks is related to “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” host Fred Rogers.a
