Did Martin Luther King Cheat On His Wife? Dying In The Arms Of Another Woman And Other Lesser-Known Facts

Martin Luther King Jr. is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights, where he used nonviolence disobedience, but there are some things about the Christian leader that some people might not know. One of those is that he cheated on his wife, Coretta Scott King.

In fact, King was a repeat adulterer. This fact was shown in Ava DuVernay's Oscar-nominated biopic “Selma.”

The reason this is so well known isn’t exactly ethical. The FBI recorded one of his trysts and sent the audiotape to his wife. But he had cheated on her so many times that Scott King was reportedly disillusioned with their marriage.

King even died in another woman’s arms. He was having an affair with at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis the night he was assassinated April 4, 1968. The woman, whose identity is uknown, was asked to stay out of the ambulance so King’s reputation would not be harmed.

King knew cheating was wrong, but he apparently could not help himself. They “all understood and believed in the biblical prohibition against sex outside marriage. It was just that he had a particularly difficult time with that temptation,” Ralph Abernathy wrote in his 1989 autobiography. It was well known among King’s staff that he had a “weakness for women.”

Cheating aside, here are some other quick facts about MLK:

Conservative politicians claim MLK was a Republican. The leader’s niece, the Rev. Alveda King, said in a 2009 interview her uncle was a registered GOP voter. King’s son, however, denied the claim. There is little proof King was a registered Republican, the GOP politicians like to exploit it.

His real name wasn’t Martin Luther King, Jr. The leader was born Michael King Jr. Jan. 15, 1929. MLK’s name was changed when his father traveled to Germany and was inspired by Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformation leader. King was 5 years old when his father changed his name. Interestingly, MLK never legally change his name.

MLK had the heart of a 60-year-old man. Even though he was 39 when he was assassinated, his autopsy result showed his heart looked like it belonged to someone much older. Part of the reason of that was because of his poor eating habits. His staff had to reportedly watch what he ate so his weight didn’t get out of control.

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