Dr. Bernice King reveals why she once considered suicide and what saved her

In a moving conversation with TheGrio’s Natasha S. Alford, Dr. King, CEO of The King Center, reflects on grief, pressure, and the spiritual moment that kept her alive years after the assassination of her father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Bernice A. King, the youngest daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, revealed a deeply personal chapter of her life in an emotional new episode of Masters of the Game with TheGrio’s Natasha S. Alford.

Now 62, King is the CEO of The King Center in Atlanta, officially known as The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. Established in 1968 by her mother, Coretta Scott King, the Center has become both a global destination and a community institution, drawing nearly a million visitors each year to its National Historic Site. More than just a memorial, the Center was envisioned as a “living memorial filled with all the vitality that was his,” a place dedicated to carrying forward Dr. King’s teachings on nonviolence, justice, and social change.

Today, under Bernice King’s leadership, the Center is undergoing a revitalization, expanding its educational programs, digitizing its archives, and repositioning itself as a modern hub for inspiring new generations of change-makers.

In her conversation with Alford, King shared that as a law student, the weight of grief and public pressure nearly pushed her to take her own life.

“I said, I’m going to law school for me, if nothing else. So in the middle of all that, I didn’t do well in law school, which hurt my heart,” she recalled. After two semesters, she was placed on probation. Facing the prospect of dismissal, King said she imagined headlines reading: ‘Dr. King’s daughter flunks out of law school.’

Compounding the stress was the unprocessed pain of profound family tragedies: losing her father to assassination at age 5, her uncle’s mysterious death, and her grandmother being shot in church when she was just 11.

“It was a lot to deal with,” King said. “So I went home, got a knife. And I was trying to figure out, how do I do this with no pain? And in the midst of it, I heard the voice of God say, put the knife down. People are going to miss you.”

That divine intervention, coupled with the love of her family, pulled her back from the brink. King said her mother, Coretta, and her aunt Christine rushed to her side after her 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,” King explained.

Her healing journey continued with an internship at what was then called the Georgia Retardation Center. Witnessing the joy and spirit of people with severe disabilities helped her understand, in her words, “the power of the spirit.”

“For my entire life, I tell people now, as a Christian, obviously, I have a relationship with Jesus Christ, but the relationship is through the Holy Spirit,” she shared. “That’s what gives me the strength. That’s what guides me and leads me.”

It’s a powerful testimony that reveals how Bernice King transformed deep pain into purpose and a life path that was uniquely her own.

Watch the full conversation on TheGrio’s YouTube channel in the latest episode of Masters of the Game.