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You might not think of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when you think of Julia Roberts, but the 55-year-old actor actually has a connection to not only Dr. King, but also his wife Coretta, and the entire King family. The story of Roberts’ connection to the King family starts with her parents, Walter and Betty Lou Roberts, before the actor was even born!

How the King and Roberts families became friends 

Martin Luther King Jr. waves to the camera with his children from a ride at the World's Fair.
American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968) waves with his children, Yolanda and Martin Luther III, from the ‘Magic Skyway’ ride at the Worlds Fair, New York City. I Hulton Archive/Getty Images

During the 1960s, both the Roberts family and the King family both resided in Atlanta, Georgia, metro area. The Roberts family owned a children’s acting school in Decatur, Georgia. The acting school was known as the Actors and Writers Workshop. 

According to BuzzFeed, Coretta Scott King called the Actors and Writers Workshop and asked if her children could attend the school. Betty Lou told Coretta that her kids were more than welcome to attend. 

Of course, this was quite unusual in the 1960s Jim Crow South, where segregation was very much still enforced. The acceptance the Roberts family showed to the Kings, and their children created a strong friendship between the two families. 

Martin Luther King Jr. paid for Julia Roberts’s hospital bills 

In 1967, Betty Lou and Walter were expecting their third child. Betty Lou gave birth to their daughter, Julia, on October 28, 1967. Unfortunately, the Roberts family was in a financial bind when Julia was born. Luckily, when the Kings heard of their friends’ predicament, they were willing to extend a helping hand and paid for the hospital bill associated with Julia’s birth. 

Sadly, less than six months after the Kings showed kindness to the Roberts family, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. This left Coretta a widow at just 40 years old with four young children Yolanda (12), Martin III (9), Dexter (7), and Bernice (5). 

When Julia Roberts turned 55-years-old in October 2022, the story of the King’s generosity was shared on social media. Dr. King and Coretta’s youngest daughter, Bernice, took to Twitter to thank Julia Roberts for sharing the story of her parent’s generosity, tweeting, “Grateful that #JuliaRoberts shared this story with Gayle King and that so many people have been awed by it. I know the story well, but it is moving for me to be reminded of my parents’ generosity and influence.”

The Kings played a role in Julia Roberts’s acting career 

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Ultimately, Dr. King and Coretta’s decision to pay for the Roberts’ hospital bills allowed the Roberts to continue their acting school and provide for their three children. Of course, this had a powerful and positive impact on Julia Roberts’s acting career, as well as the acting careers of her older siblings, Eric and Lisa. Eric’s daughter, Emma Roberts, also went on to become an actress. She began her career as a child actress, portraying Addie Singer on the Nickelodeon sitcom Unfabulous from 2004 to 2007. 

Of course, Julia Roberts also has a long list of acting credits that, in some respect, stem from the King’s kindness and generosity. According to IMDb, Roberts got her Hollywood breakthrough in the late 1980s, earning roles in the 1988 film Mystic Pizza and the 1989 film Steel Magnolias. However, Roberts truly established herself as a leading actor in Hollywood when she headlined the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman. 

Over the course of her 30+ year film career, Roberts’s films have grossed over $3.9 billion globally. While Roberts’s success is largely based on her own merits, the Kings certainly had a hand in the life and career success Julia Roberts has been able to obtain over the last 50+ years. 

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