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Julia Roberts has been one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood and has experienced all possible successes in her acting career. From her breakthrough role inPretty Womanto her Academy Award forErin Brockovich, she rose to the ladder of being one of the world’s highest-paid actresses in the 90s and the early 2000s.
Behind this phenomenal success story, there is a unique connection to the civil rights legend, Martin Luther King Jr. This little-known relationship is quite astonishing, especially considering how a generous act determined the landscape of the American entertainment industry.
When Martin Luther King Jr. paid for Julia Roberts’ hospital bill
The connection betweenJulia Robertsand the King family was revealed when the famous actress shared that story with journalist Gayle King during aHISTORYTalksevent. In the interview, Roberts said that, at her birth in Smyrna, Georgia, in 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King paid her hospital bill.
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“The King family paid for my hospital bill…because my parents couldn’t pay for the hospital bill,”Roberts said (via Zara Rahim onX).“They helped us out of a jam,”she further added.
The Roberts family had an artistic background but was struggling financially at the time. Julia’s parents, Walter and Betty Roberts, were actors and playwrights and founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop. They were dedicated to their arts and integrated theater school and eventually suffered a personal cost when their daughter was about to be born.
This was not just an act of random kindness because it originated from a close connection of both families based on the common commitment to fighting against racial discrimination in the southern region of the United States of America. The Kings also realized that the Roberts family contributed to civil rights through integrated theater work.
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Bernice King, the youngest daughter ofMartin Luther King Jr.and Coretta Scott King, also appreciated Roberts for telling the story (viaX), which reminded her of her parents’ generous and influential spirits. This early connection and contribution from the King family significantly contributed to giving the entertainment industry one of the biggest actresses ever.
How Julia Roberts’ family helped Martin Luther King Jr.
The King and Roberts families had relations beyond just the provision of financial help. The only integrated children’s theatre group in Georgia was managed by Walter and Betty Roberts, who joyfully accepted King’s children during those divisive times of the South. This brought both families closer, before Julia’s birth.
During theHISTORYTalkslive event, Julia Roberts said that Coretta Scott King contacted her mother directly in a bid to get her children into the theater school.
And one day Coretta Scott King 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. And my mom was like, ‘Sure, come on over.’
The effect of a working integrated environment remained with the King children. Martin Luther King Jr.’s oldest child, Yolanda King, who also became an activist and an actress, eventually spoke well about her experience at the school in an earlier interview on CNN (viaThe Times). She said,
Mr. Roberts was so imposing. I loved him, but I was also a little intimidated by him too. He taught me so much, and he and Mrs. Roberts, about the work, and just about living and being really open, grabbing life and making the best of it.
The theater also fostered an atmosphere that helped the kids to look beyond racial features. Yolanda King recalled,
All of these Black kids and white kids getting along, no problems. We had no problems whatsoever, racial problems.
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The workshops encouraged the feeling of a large family and showed that integration could work smoothly in the arts, and this commitment to equality through arts education was a beautiful message given during the height of the civil rights movement.
Bibon Sinha
Articles Published :137
Bibon Sinha is a Biotechnology graduate whose love for content creation turned him toward the field of content writing. With over two years of experience in the field of content writing and management, he is a devoted Marvel fan. Beyond writing, he’s drawn to combat sports and spends his downtime with his guitar, creating music.
