LONDON: Coretta Scott King, the late civil rights leader and wife of Rev Martin Luther King, had helped pay for the hospital bills at the birth of actress Julia Roberts, it has been revealed. According to contactmusic.com, Coretta, who died on January 31 after suffering from ovarian cancer, took the secret that she paid for the bills of Roberts’ parents to the grave. The incident happened in 1967 after King became friends with Roberts’ parents when they agreed to give Roberts drama lessons. A family source says King rushed to help the family when she heard about the labour and insisted that she pay for the bills as a way of saying thank you for the family’s kindness towards black children in Atlanta. A family friend says: “Julia was touched and surprised when she found out. Coretta is one of the reasons Julia uses her millions to help charities working with young children projects to save the environment.”