Julia Roberts' Shocking Connection To Martin Luther King Jr. Will Warm Your Heart

Hollywood star Julia Roberts recently revealed that Martin Luther King Jr., the legendary activist, and his wife, Coretta Scott King, helped pay the hospital bill for her birth because her parents didn't have the money for it. She explained that her parents and the Kings had become friends after they admitted the Kings' kids into their theater school.

Roberts' parents' decision to enroll the King's kids was extraordinary at the time because of how intense segregation was. A Ku Klux Klan member even once blew up a car after King's daughter, Yolanda, was cast in a romantic role opposite a white actor.

Roberts recently celebrated her 55th birthday with an Instagram post of herself drinking coffee surrounded by pink and gold balloons. During a previous interview, she gushed about her husband, Danny Moder, and their three kids. Roberts shared that being a homemaker is just as big a dream come true as her acting career and that she loves coming home to her family.

Read on to find out more.

During a recent interview with Gayle King for History Channel's "HISTORYTalks," Roberts revealed that the Late King Jr. and his wife, Coretta, helped pay for the hospital bill on her parents' behalf when she was born. She said per Page Six, "The King family paid for my hospital bill — Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta. My parents obviously couldn't pay for the hospital bill."

When Gayle asked how the Kings and Julia's parents, Walter Grady and Betty Lou, had become friends, Roberts explained that they'd met through her parents' theater school.

She said, "My parents had a theater school in Atlanta called the 'Actors and Writers Workshop.' 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."

The King's request came in the 1960s, when segregation was intense and widespread in America and when activists like King Jr. were pushing for change and desegregation. Roberts continued, "My mom was like, 'Sure, come on over,' and so they all just became friends, and they helped us out of a jam."

Gayle called Roberts' parents' decision to enroll King's kids in their theater school "extraordinary" because they knew how intense the public clap-back would be. She explained that at the time, people never saw "little black children interacting with little white kids in acting school."

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A 2013 essay by Philip DePoy revealed that a Ku Klux Klan member once bombed a car outside of Roberts' parents' theater to protest him kissing the late Yolanda King, one of King's children, in a film scene. DePoy wrote, "I kissed a girl, and 10 yards away, a Buick exploded."

He continued, "We were in Atlanta, it was a very nice summer day in 1965, and I was 15 years old. The girl was Yolanda King, daughter of Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr. I was primarily caucasian, and Yolanda wasn't. That's what the trouble was about. I don't know who owned the Buick, but I know who blew it up."

The "Notting Hill" star recently celebrated her 55th birthday on October 28th. Roberts made an Instagram post of a happy selfie of herself drinking coffee with pink and gold balloons in the background. She captioned the photo, "Feeling the love and magic on my 55th Birthday! My cup runneth over."

Roberts restricted the comments on her birthday post, allowing only comments from those she follows. Thus, the comments were few and consisted of birthday messages from celebrities like footballer Jesse Lingard, director Sam Taylor Johnson, singer Rita Wilson, and writer Pete Souza.

During another recent interview on CBS, Roberts gushed about her husband, Danny Moder, and their three beautiful kids. She said, "When I'm not working, [being a homemaker] is my full-time job. It isn't rainbows and kittens every day, but it does bring me a lot of joy."

The "Erin Brockovich" actress also explained that her acting career has never been enough for her and that it may be a "dream come true," but it's not her only dream that has come true. She continued, "The life that I have built with my husband, [and] the life that we've built with our children, that's the best stuff. To come home at the end of the day, triumphantly, to them."