Sunny Hostin Explores Her Puerto Rican Roots

Records in San Juan show just how tough Virginia's childhood actually was, revealing that she lost three of her siblings before her 10th birthday.

And then in quick succession, saw both her mother and her father pass away.

That's horrible.

It's just one thing after another for her.

Just one thing after another.

Yeah.

It makes a lot more sense now that she refused to go back.

I mean, I invited her, several times.

You know, "Nanny come," I used to call her Nanny.

"Nanny, come, come to Puerto Rico, you know, I'll put you up at the Ritz.

It'll be great."

No, no desire.

Yeah.

Zero.

And no desire to talk about her time there really either.

Well, all of this loss occurred before the age of 12.

Yeah, I can't imagine it actually.

Mm-hmm.

I can't imagine that.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the tragedy of Virginia's youth gave way to an adulthood that was filled with challenges.

She had a very brief relationship with Sunny's grandfather, a man named Augusto Beza Pérez, before settling into a solitary life in New York City.

And while it was easy to understand why Virginia had turned her back on the past, in doing so she left Sunny knowing almost nothing about her deeper roots.

We set out to restore what had been lost.

And traced Sunny's grandfather, Augusto, back three generations to a man named Fermín Beza.

He lived in a region of Puerto Rico, known as Aguadilla.

You ever hear of him?

No.

Well, Fermín Beza, you just met your great-great-great-grandfather.

- Wow.

- Third great-grandfather.

I've never heard the name, no.

Fermín died in Aguadilla at the age of 63, which means he was born 200 years ago, minus one year.

He was born in 1824.

- Wow.

- Did you know that you had such deep roots in Aguadilla?

No.

No.

I know when my mom learned that her father was in Aguadilla.

Mm-hmm.

But other than that, no.

I mean, I've been there, but I didn't know the roots went back that far.