Most fans know that Dolly Parton is Miley Cyrus‘ godmother, but it turns out their bond is even closer than that: They’re distant relatives.

According to an Ancestry.com report obtained by Access Hollywood, Cyrus and Parton are actually seventh cousins, once removed.

They’ve got a shared ancestor named John Brickey, who lived in the mid-1700s in Virginia and Tennessee, and died in 1806.

Access Hollywood surprised Parton with the news during an interview she was giving to promote Good Lookin’ Cookin’, the new cookbook she co-authored with her sister, Rachel. Though Parton didn’t know that she had a biological relationship to Cyrus, she wasn’t all that surprised.

“Is that true?! That’s amazing,” Parton responded with a smile.

“Well, we’re so close, Miley and I, I would’ve thought we’d be at least third cousins, 10 times removed,” she went on to say.

“I’m sure she’ll get a kick out of that. But it doesn’t surprise me, because she does feel like family.”

Parton and Cyrus aren’t just personally close: They’ve worked together on music, too. Most recently, Parton and Cyrus recorded a version of Cyrus’ 2013 hit “Wrecking Ball” for Parton’s Rockstar album.

In addition to releasing her cookbook, Parton has had a busy year of both music and business ventures in 2024. She launched her own beauty line, and is readying an album called Smoky Mountain DNA for release this November. She also appears on two of the most high-profile cross-over projects of the year: Post Malone‘s F-1 Trillion and Beyoncé‘s Cowboy Carter.