Hollywood actress Julia Roberts celebrated her 55th birthday on 28 October – and there was one unlikely birth-related story which quickly gained traction online.
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Aside from the usual celebratory messages, Twitter users were quick to highlight Julia's special link to Martin Luther King Jr. after the civil rights icon took care of her parents' hospital bills.
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Among the tweets was a message from Zara Rahim, a former strategic advisor for Barack Obama who gushed: "Today is Julia Roberts' birthday! 55 years ago, MLK and Coretta Scott King paid for her parents' hospital bill after she was born. Can't stop thinking about this since I read it."
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And earlier this year, the 55-year-old sat down with Gayle King for A+E Network's and History Channel's HISTORY Talks series in Washington, D.C. During their candid chat, the Pretty Woman star divulged how the activist became friends with her parents and "helped them out of a jam" following Julia's birth in 1967.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe American minister helped Julia's parents
Kicking off the interview, Gayle quizzed: "Let's start with the day you were born – who paid for the hospital bill?"
"Her research is very good," Julia said with a smile, before revealing that Martin and Coretta settled the bill.
Reflecting on the astonishing act of kindness, Julia added: "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. And my mom was like, 'Sure, come on over.'"
After that, the two families forged a special friendship and the Kings stepped in to help Julia's parents – Betty Lou Bredemus and Walter Grady Roberts – after they were left crippled by steep medical bills.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe star was born in Smyrna, Georgia
Blown away by the surprising revelation, Gayle described the friendship between Julia's parents and the Kings as "extraordinary" because, at the time, "little black children interacting with little white kids in acting school" didn't happen.
She continued: "It sort of lays the groundwork for who you are."
Bernice King, the youngest child of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, penned a heartwarming tweet, expressing her gratitude to Julia for having reshared the uplifting story. "Grateful that #JuliaRoberts shared this story with @GayleKing 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," she gushed.
© Photo: Getty ImagesJulia and Danny tied the knot in 2002
Fans raced to weigh in on the post, with one writing: "What a beautiful thing. Two families welcoming and helping each other," whilst another penned: "This is pretty cool. Everyone needs to know this!!"
"What a BEAUTIFUL story!!!!" enthused a third, and a fourth added: "Blessings of untold proportions. Both families inextricably linked for generations…"
This isn’t the first time Julia has openly discussed the power of kindness. Back in 2019, the mum-of-three spoke to People magazine about her sister’s big heart. "I have always believed kindness has many forms. Some quite obvious, some more subtle. Some are an exact shape and some kindness, I have found, is more reaching, surrounding, like an embrace," Julia said.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe actress has forged a successful career
She continued: "I think of my sister Lisa often when I think of kindness, but specifically something she did when we were both teenagers. Teenagers. Those historically edgy, self-centred creatures, blind to all needs but their own."
"When I graduated from high school at 17, she had already moved to New York City and was enrolled in theatre school. Surely, with lots on her plate and mind at 19 years old, but when I asked to move in with her just days after I graduated (mainly, because I missed her!) she never blinked an eye or asked for the outline of time or ideas before saying yes."
She finished by adding: "Her kindness was so reflexive and warm that I surely did not even recognise it as such at the time. But the feeling of it, the sense of belonging it provided me with was and is one of the great motivators of my life and my heart's compass and compassion towards others."
