Julia Roberts reveals Martin Luther King Jr. paid the hospital bill for her birth

Not only is Martin Luther King Jr. one of the greatest Civil Rights heroes in American history, he also footed the bill for the birth of one of the country's greatest actors.

Speaking in a recent interview with Gayle King, Julia Roberts revealed that Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King paid the hospital bill for her birth.

"The King family paid for my hospital bill," Roberts said.

"My parents couldn't pay for the hospital bill. My parents [actors and playwrights Betty Lou Bredemus and Walter Grady Roberts] had a theatre school in Atlanta called the Actors and Writers Workshop.

"One day Coretta King Scott called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of this school because they were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids.

"My mum was like, 'Sure, come on over', and so they all just became friends, and they helped us out of a jam."

Allowing the young King children into the school wasn't a straightforward thing in the 1960s, with openly violent racist incidents still rife in US society.

So when Betty Lou and Walter were in need of a little help with their medical bills, the Kings stepped up to repay the kindness.

The Roberts' school is said to have been the first racially integrated drama school in Atlanta.

Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered on April 4, 1968, less than six months after Julia Roberts was born.