'No Media Training on Earth Can Prep You': Cole Sprouse Calls Dylan's 'Children of Incest' Headline 'Clickbait'

Cole Sprouse has called a headline describing him and his twin brother Dylan as 'children of incest' 'clickbait', after an unusual discovery about their family history sparked a discussion about the brothers' ancestry.

The headline followed Dylan's account of researching his family tree and discovering previously unknown connections between branches of his family.

The discovery was discussed during the 20 October episode of the Wildmen podcast, where Dylan explained how his research led him to reconsider his family's history of twins and marriages in California generations ago.

Cole Sprouse Calls the Headline 'Clickbait'

Cole addressed the coverage in an Instagram Story on Tuesday, 20 October, sharing the headline and writing: 'No media training on earth can prep you to read this clickbait headline at 10am.'

Dylan also appeared to embrace the coverage with a joking response, writing: 'Ngl they cooked with this headline' and adding: 'Printing this out and hanging it over the communal family bed.'

Cole's post came after media outlets reported Dylan's comments from the podcast. His response appeared to take aim at the way the discussion had been packaged in the headline rather than confirm or dispute the underlying family history.

Dylan also recalled calling Cole after discovering the family-tree connection and sending him a picture. According to his account, Cole responded: 'Not looking at that,' before closing the image and hanging up.

The twins, both 34, rose to fame as child actors, starring together in Big Daddy before finding wider fame as Zack and Cody in Disney Channel's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck.

Dylan Sprouse's Family Tree Discovery

Dylan said he had been researching his ancestry using Ancestry and speaking to relatives on his father's side, which he described as 'pretty fractured'.

'The families married in California in the late 1800s. And then they diverged. And then they married again with my mom and my dad,' he said.

Dylan explained that he had previously believed the family's history of twins came mainly from his mother's side. He said there were seven sets of twins across four generations.

His investigation took another turn when he learnt that his father's uncles were also identical twins. Dylan joked that the recurring pattern made sense because 'it's the same family'.

He then delivered the line that became the focus of subsequent coverage: 'Long story short, Cole and I are children of incest.'

Dylan said his parents had no idea about the earlier family connection.

'It's my dad and my mom. They had no idea. So, then I'm looking at this, and I go, "What the hell?"' he said.

The remark came during a humorous discussion and does not independently establish that Dylan and Cole's parents were related through incest.

'A Lot of Things Started To Make Sense'

Dylan said the family history became even more unusual as he connected the various details he had discovered.

'A lot of stuff started to make sense, because one of my aunts was a twin, but she was one of the twins who ate her twin in the womb, and when they cut open a cyst in her shoulder, it had teeth and hair,' he said.

The anecdote was part of Dylan's broader account of his family history and has not been independently verified.