Julia Roberts has revealed a remarkable link to the late Martin Luther King Jr and his wife Coretta Scott King, saying that they paid the hospital bill for her birth in 1967.
The actress, 55, who was born in Smyrna, Georgia, explained the couple made the gesture after her mum and dad befriended the Kings while living in Atlanta and running a theatre school.
Her parents, Betty Lou Bredemus and Walter Grady Roberts, were actors and playwrights who had co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop off Juniper Street in the city in 1963 and couldn’t afford the expensive fee.
Julia confirmed the story to US broadcaster Gayle King in a clip showing her in conversation with the journalist last month, which has now been shared online by a fan, after sharing her surprise over researchers unearthing the fact.
‘One day Coretta King Scott called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of the school because they were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids.