Henry Louis Gates Jr. is best known for being the mind behind the hit TV show Finding Your Roots, but when he’s not surprising celebrities with family secrets, he spends his time with his wife and fellow academic powerhouse, Dr. Marial Iglesias Utset.
Henry and Marial married in 2021, and have gone on to research together, travel together, and build a life together in Massachusetts, just steps away from Harvard’s campus. Join us as we discover more about the woman who captured the heart of America’s favorite historian.
© Getty ImagesHenry’s first marriage
The TV personality was previously married to Sharon Lynn Adams from 1979 to 1999, and the couple welcomed two daughters together, Maggie and Liza, before going their separate ways.
Meet Marial
While it is unclear how Henry and Marial met, the pair likely bonded over their shared passion for academia. Marial is a historian and Harvard professor who specializes in Cuban history and authored a critically acclaimed book, A Cultural History of Cuba during the US Occupation, 1898-1902.
She is Cuban-born, fluent in Spanish, and earned her Ph.D in Historical Sciences at the University of Havana, before going on to further study at Moscow State University. The academic was a professor of Philosophy and History at the University of Havana for more than two decades.
© XMarial currently works at the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at Harvard, with a focus on Culture and Race in Cuba, Atlantic Slavery, and African Diaspora Studies.
The couple lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, close to the prestigious university.
All roads lead to Rome
While Marial appears to prefer a life away from the public eye, the historian traveled with her husband to Rome in July 2025 to meet with Pope Leo XIV and present him with their findings about his genealogical history. Henry shared insight into the special day on social media, revealing that it was a “deeply moving” experience for them both.
“On Saturday, my wife, the historian Dr. Marial Iglesias Utset, and I were granted the profound honor of a private audience with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican to present him with a copy of his family tree,” Henry wrote.
“She and I had worked with an outstanding team of researchers to publish it in The New York Times Sunday Magazine and were deeply grateful for the chance to walk His Holiness through the branches of his family tree, sharing stories of his ancestors back to his 12th great-grandparents who were born some 500 years ago.”
“This was one of the most meaningful and deeply moving moments of our lives.” The Finding Your Roots star later reminisced on meeting the pope, and explained that Marial assisted in researching his family tree.
© LinkedIn“There are very few people who have a more diverse family tree or a family tree as extensive [as Pope Leo], going back to a 12th great-grandfather and 12th great-grandmother,” Henry told PBS News. “I gave [my team] five days to do the family tree. Five days later, they had done a family tree going back to the pope’s 12th great-grandparents.”
He added that the pope and Marial “spoke in Spanish half the time, with her telling him great stories about his Spanish ancestors. And he was very impressed.”
