Two Celebrity Paternity DNA Tests: Jude Law and Orson Welles

Jude Law and Orson Welles are just two of the many famous people who have been amidst paternity disputes and have required DNA paternity testing to solve them. One of the greatest American film directors, Orson Welles (1915-1985), who is remembered for films like Citizen Cain and his otherworldly and supernatural Shakespeare interpretations, may be father to the British actor and film director Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Hogg will be taking a DNA test to establish the paternity of his alleged father Orson Welles.

Lindsay-Hogg, 59, has often found himself amidst speculations that he is the son of the film director, Orson Welles. These speculations have been based on the marked resemblance between Welles and Hogg. Welles first daughter, Chris Welles Feder, has once again revived the claims stating that she has always suspected the Michael was her bother.

Chris has written an autobiography and in which she reminisces about her childhood when herself and Hogg lived next door to each other and where close childhood friends. Her autobiography, In My Father's Shadow, talks fondly of her memories and she declares that having biological proof that Hogg is her brother, as would be determined by a DNA test, would make her very happy.

Lindsay-Hogg’s father was the knighted Sir Edward Lindsey-Hogg and his mother had embarked on an affair with Orson Welles whilst the director was still married to Chris Welles-Felder’s mother. The families kept close contact and spent a lot of time together.

Unfortunately, none of Orson’s children are sure whether Michael is the biological son of Welles, but the suspicions are strong. Until now, Welles has 4 children- all daughters. However, until a DNA test proves otherwise, Michael is not the son of the director.

To prove paternity, it is likely that Michael will opt for a siblings DNA test. If Chris is his half sister (Chris’s father, Orson Welles, had an affair with Michael Lindsay-Hoggs mother, Geraldine Fitzgerald), then she is potentially Michael’s half sister. A sibling STR test may establish paternity by direct comparison of the siblings’ DNA with the inclusion of one know parent’s DNA. The news and media do not specify the type of DNA test that will confirm whether Welles is his biological father. Another option would be to carry out a post-humous paternity test by exhuming the body of Orson Welles, this type of paternity test is far more complex since it requires court-approval of the exhumation and very specific parts of the bone which can be used for testing.

Jude Law and DNA Paternity Test

Jude Law, the English born actor, was in the middle of a paternity dispute in 2009. Samantha Burke gave birth to his alleged daughter, Sophia, and needed a DNA test to prove with absolute certainty that Law is the biological father. Speculations about the paternity of the child where fuelled by the fact that the actor footed the bills for the birth of the child. Jude Law however, claims he did this out of kindness and the act should not be in a anyway taken as a confirmation of paternity on his behalf.

Law has made communication barriers difficult by only communicating with Samantha Burke via legal representatives. The paternity DNA test did in fact prove that Law was Sophia’s father and Law is now obliged to assume all his paternal responsibilities including any maintenance costs for the child and possibly even the mother.

Paternity tests can establish with a probability of 99.99% if the tested father is the true biological father of the child. The exclusion rate is 100%. Paternity DNA testing are simple to carry out and most DNA testing companies can carry out the test with just a simple oral mouth swab as genetic technology today means that the days of painful blood draws are over and saliva samples have become the standard way of carrying out a test. More celebrities and non celebrities alike are resorting to the test to find peace of mind and resolution in their lives.