According to her, 85 percent of African Americans have some European origin. "Wanda is exceptional in that she is descended from 10 generations of free Virginia mulattos, which is more rare than descendants of mixed-race African-Americans descended from English monarchy," Ms. Sykes explained in a 2003 interview with E! News. Her mother was white and her father was black. Ms. Sykes did not reveal how many times she has mixed race ancestry or what percentage of each component she is. She has said that because slavery was illegal in Virginia, the only way for a black person to get their own land was to marry into a white family. This rarely happened, as most slaves were bought by masters who had no interest in marrying them off. If it did happen, the marriage was legal under Virginia law at the time because blacks were considered property and not people. In addition, any child born into such a union inherited both colors of skin pigment. In another interview, Ms. Sykes commented on having black ancestors: "My parents are both black and white. I guess you could say I'm mixed race." She went on to explain that before slavery, most black people in Virginia were free to come and go as they pleased. They often married outside of their race, something that wasn't possible after slavery was instituted.