Clearwater Man Finds Out If William Shatner Is Really His Father

Is he or isn't he? He finally learns the answer thanks you a long-needed DNA test.

After years of attempts to get William Shatner to submit to a DNA test to find out if he is, in fact, Peter Shatner's biological father, a DNA test was taken, but not by William. Though his mother told him in 1984 his father might be Mr. Shatner, the actor would not take a test to reveal whether it was true.

36 years ago, Peter was told by his biological mother, a Canadian actress named Kathy Burt, of the possibility that his father could be the actor William Shatner. Though Mr. Shatner refused to take a DNA test to find out, Peter kept trying to make it happen. Peter even submitted DNA to Ancestry.com. It was through their service that he finally found the match he was looking for, though it turned out not to be the Star Trek icon.

DNA showed a connection to another man who his mother knew as Chick, who passed in 2001. It was with Chick's daughter that Peter was able to get a DNA familial match, learning she was a half-sibling.

Peter had legally changed his name to Shatner in 2019.
[Source: Tampa Bay Times]