In a groundbreaking discovery, Julia Roberts has discovered that she’s not actually Julia Roberts, after all.
We all know Julia Roberts.
After all, she’s one of the most successful actresses in the world.
Roberts has had starring roles in many rom-com classics!
Including Pretty Woman (1990), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), and Runaway Bride (1999).
But her career spans genres.
She won an Academy Award in 2000 for her role in Erin Brokovich.
And really hit the big times in 2001 in Ocean’s Eleven.
Since then, Roberts has continued to act, and also owns her own production company Red Om Films.
She’s also the global face of Lancôme!
And remains one of the world’s best-paid actresses, with an estimated net worth of $250 million.
Roberts has also been named People’s most beautiful woman a whopping 5 times.
Quite the illustrious career!
And did you know that Roberts had some pretty epic parents?
Walter and Betty Lou Roberts, ran the Actors and Writers Workshop in Atlanta before she was born in 1967.
And while working there, the 2 met Martin Luther King Jr.
The Roberts allowed the civil rights leader’s daughters to attend their classes, flying in the face of segregation.
“One day Coretta 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,” Roberts said.
“My mom was like, ‘Sure, come on over,’ and so they all just became friends.”
Which prompted huge violence from the KKK.
They even blew up a car outside the school, as documented by actor Phillip DePoy.
“I kissed a girl, and 10 yards away, a Buick exploded!”
“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.”
“In the ’60s, you didn’t have little Black children interacting with little white kids in an acting school, and your parents were like, ‘Come on in,’” King marveled at Roberts later.
“I think that’s extraordinary, and it sort of lays the groundwork for who you are.”
In a series called HISTORYTalks Roberts opened up even more about the connection between her and Martin Luther King Jr.
And it quickly took the internet by sotrm.
Zara Rahim, a former strategic adviser to President Barack Obama, tweeted the interview clip to celebrate Roberts’ 55th birthday.
In the clip, Roberts revealed that Cordetta and Martin Luther King Jr. had been so close to her parents that they had paid the bill for her birth!
“The King family paid for my hospital bill… Martin Luther King and Coretta,” Roberts told Gayle King.
The Robertses couldn’t afford the bill after her birth.
So she explained that they “helped us out of a jam.”
On October 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia, the Kings stepped in and helped bring Julia Roberts into the world!
And since then, Roberts has remained dedicated to fighting racism in Atlanta.
Calling her town her town was “horribly racist” and a “living hell,” according to The New York Times.
Fans have loved this crazy story…
“Shows you her parents raised her right! So cool,” one fan wrote.
Others couldn’t fathom that these 2 lives crossed over in history.
“No this is one of those history facts that my brain just can’t process!” said one.
It certainly puts into perspective just how recently segregation was a part of people’s everyday lives.
The other overwhelming response has simply been that people can’t believe Roberts hadn’t publicized this story before.
You can watch the clip here.
Roberts has also recently celebrated her kids, Hazel and Finn’s, eighteenth birthday by uploading a rare photo on her social media.
It was a throwback photo of the twins when they were young, with Roberts holding one of her children in her arm.
The post was captioned: “18, the ticket to paradise,” followed by 6-star emojis.
Commenting on the post, Rita Wilson wished the twins a happy birthday.
“It can’t be!!!!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!” she wrote. You can see the post here.
But this week, Roberts has hit headlines for a different reason.
She’s discovered she’s not Julia Roberts, after all!
On Finding Your Roots, Dr Henry Louis Gates Jr helps celebrities find out their own personal history.
And Roberts’ episode this week was truly groundbreaking.
Gates explained: “The story begins with her great grandfather, John Roberts, and with his mother, a woman named Rhoda Suttle.
“Digging into Georgia’s County archives, we discovered that sometime in the 1850s, Rhoda married a man named Willis Roberts.
“Julia carries Willis’ last name. But Willis passed away in 1864, over a decade before Rhoda gave birth to Julia’s great-grandfather, John, leading to an inescapable conclusion.
“Willis Roberts could not possibly be your great, great grandfather. He was dead.”
Roberts was clearly confused, asking: “But am I not a Roberts?”
But Gates had a plan to solve the mystery, once and for all.
“Julia and one of her father’s first cousins, a fellow descendant of John Roberts, both agreed to take DNA tests,” he explained.
“We then compared their results to people in publicly available databases, searching for matches, hoping to identify John’s father through the DNA of his descendants.
“In the end, we found a cluster of matches that tie Julia and her cousin to one man.”
That man’s name? Henry MacDonald Mitchell Jr.
Roberts asks: “So we’re Mitchells?”
And Gates replies, “You’re Julia Mithcell.”
Watch the incredible clip right here!