In a deeply personal conversation with Masters of the Game, Dr. Bernice King — the youngest daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — revealed a painful chapter from her young adulthood when grief and despair nearly consumed her.
King recounted the devastating impact of losing her father to assassination, the mysterious death of her uncle, and the tragic killing of her grandmother inside a church. She described how those losses compounded while she was struggling academically in law school — leading her to contemplate suicide one night.
“I went home, got a knife, and I was trying to figure out how do I do this with no pain?” King said. “And in the midst of that, I heard the voice of God say, put the knife down. People are going to miss you. And He reminded me of the call that I had.”
King’s testimony, shared in a video clip posted by The Grio on Instagram, has gone viral for its raw honesty and message of faith. In the video, she speaks candidly about feeling unloved and overwhelmed by anger after years of unprocessed trauma.
Her mother, Coretta Scott King, and aunt Christine King Farris rushed to support her after a concerned roommate called for help.
“I told them at that time, I felt like nobody loved me. It wasn’t true. It was just what I felt because I was just dealing with so much internally,” she recalled.
King said that the Holy Spirit’s intervention that night not only saved her life but set her on the path to ministry and service.
“We’re really spirit beings having human experiences,” she said, reflecting on how her faith shaped her outlook and renewed her purpose.
Today, Dr. King leads The King Center in Atlanta, continuing her parents’ legacy of nonviolence and social justice while also speaking openly about mental health, grief, and faith — issues often stigmatized in communities of color.
Her story is now resonating globally, with many social media users thanking her for her vulnerability and courage in sharing a moment that could have ended differently.
