JULIA ROBERTS: MLK Paid for Birth

If not for the late Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., there might never have been Academy Award-winner Julia Roberts.

She shared the story of how MLK paid the hospital bill for her birth in Atlanta. He was grateful for Julia’s parents, who were short on cash on that time. Julia told Gayle King, (quote) “They became friends and helped us out of a jam.”

Julia’s parents operated an Atlanta theater and drama school in the mid-’60s. This was the area’s only integrated drama school. At that time in Georgia, it would’ve been controversial to accept Black students, including the children of MLK.

Yolando King performed as a pre-teen in one of the plays produced by the parents of Julia Roberts. In response, a member of the Ku Klux Klan blew up a car outside the theater. (Oprah Daily)