Genealogy, once a specialized research practice, is progressively a common social practice allowed by digitization and cultural intermediaries that back the construction of family histories. The idea of finding out about oneself via an examination of the character and lives of ancestors is an increasing social practice reflected in popular culture. Tracing one’s personal traits through past family members and expanding the sense of family and identity back in time possibly enriches personal identity and link personal, social and cultural memory. In this article, an episode of the popular BBC TV program Who Do You Think You Are? is proposed in which, it is claimed, the celebrity guest embarks on a quest to construct a personalized history of the present as a way of resolving personal problems and understanding the basis of their celebrity. The implications of this assay are expanded on to help a comprehension of the media representations of genealogy as a social practice and the media representation of the relation between history and memory.