A GENERATION OF KINDNESS: HOW THE KING FAMILY HELPED WELCOME JULIA ROBERTS INTO THE WORLD

Long before Julia Roberts became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King quietly helped her family in a way few people knew about for decades. They paid the hospital bill for her birth.

Julia was born on October 28, 1967, in Georgia. At the time, her parents, Walter and Betty Lou Roberts, were struggling financially while running an acting school in Atlanta called the Actors and Writers Workshop. That school had created an unexpected connection between two families.

Years earlier, Coretta Scott King had contacted Julia’s mother because she was having difficulty finding an acting school that would accept her children. Betty’s response was simple: “Sure, come on over.”

This was the American South in the 1960s, when Black and white children sharing the same creative space was far from ordinary. The King children joined the workshop, and the families became fast friends. When Julia was born and her parents couldn’t afford the hospital bill, Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta stepped in to help.

Julia confirmed the story herself during a 2022 conversation with Gayle King, explaining, “The King family paid for my hospital bill. My parents couldn’t pay for the hospital bill.” Bernice King, Martin and Coretta’s youngest daughter, later confirmed the story, expressing gratitude that people were being reminded of her parents’ generosity.

Decades before anyone knew Julia Roberts’ name, two families showed each other something remarkably simple. One opened a door when another needed it, and years later, that kindness came back when help was needed in return.