Actress Julia Roberts recently revealed that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. paid for her family’s hospital bill after she was born.
On Friday, Barack Obama’s former strategic advisor Zara Rahim shared a clip of Julia sharing the information to commemorate her birthday. The clip is from a conversation Julia had with Gayle King back in September.
In the interview, Julia recalls MLK Jr. and his wife, Coretta’s Scott King, helping out her family, who “couldn’t afford to pay the hospital bill” after her birth.
“The King family paid for my hospital bill … Martin Luther King and Coretta,” Julia says. “They helped us out of a jam.”
Julia shared how the two families became acquainted. While segregation was in full effect, Julia’s parents opened the doors to their acting school in Atlanta and welcomed the King’s children.
“One day Coretta Scott King called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of the school. Cause they were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids, and my mom was like ‘sure come on over,’” Julia added.
According to Julia, after the King’s children joined the school, the two families became good friends.
Elsewhere in the interview, Gayle praised Julia’s family for taking a stand against segregation.
“In the 60s you didn’t have little Black children interacting with little white kids in an acting school. Your parents were like ‘come on in.’ I think that’s extraordinary and it sort of lays the groundwork for who you are.”
