The Hawk Tuah girl became famous in an unusual way, but recently, she found out something surprising about her heritage on a podcast that left everyone amazed.
And no, this isn’t about where in the U.S. she’s from—her strong southern Tennessee accent already makes that clear.
This is about her ethnic background, or more exactly, where her ancestors came from.
Yes, the viral story has reached a new level.
It’s no longer enough to know where the Hawk Tuah girl is from in the U.S.; now, people want to know more about her ancestry.
Hailey Welch, which is her real name, was excited to learn about her roots, and the others in the room were just as thrilled.
In late July, Welch was a guest on the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast. During the show, she and host Howie Mandel talked about her DNA test results.
Mandel was joined by his co-host and daughter, Jackelyn Shultz, along with comedian Michael Blaustein.
When the DNA results came in, everyone in the room started laughing and joking.
It turns out Welch is 97.7 percent Ashkenazi Jewish.
The rest of her ancestry includes 0.2 percent Eastern European, 1.7 percent broadly European, 0.2 percent Siberian, and 0.1 percent broadly East Asian.
Shultz joked, “You are in a room full of Jews,” and Blaustein added, “Are you scared?” He also joked, “Welcome to Hollywood.”
Welch responded, “Yes, I tried Katz Deli when I was in New York—it was really good. I’m on top of the world!”
The group kept laughing about the results, with Mandel even suggesting that “Hawk Tuah” could be a Yiddish word.
Now, I don’t know if that’s true, but my Yiddish isn’t perfect either.
Who would have thought that one viral moment and a couple of sounds could get so much attention?
Instead of hiding from her sudden fame, Welch embraced it, and many people have admired her for that.
In a new Twitter clip, she explained, “Along the way I realized that everybody’s entitled to their own opinion. Well now, it’s my time to talk.”
Welch also shared her new podcast, cleverly named ‘Talk Tuah.’
“I’m sitting down with the coolest guests and having actual conversations with them,” she said.
It looks like she’s making the best of her situation.
When life gives you lemons, Hawk Tuah knows how to make the most of them.
