BILLY BOB THORNTON: `I WAS BEN FRANKLIN IN A PREVIOUS LIFE'

BILLY BOB THORNTON: `I WAS BEN FRANKLIN IN A PREVIOUS LIFE'

NEW YORK (Wireless Flash) -- Billy Bob Thornton is coming clean about his past: He believes he was Ben Franklin in a previous life. Thornton tells the upcoming "Men's Journal" that he was once Franklin because he often experiences vivid images of walking around Boston and Philadelphia -- even though he's never been to either city. Although Thornton has felt connected to Franklin all his life, it was only after gal pal Laura Dern told him she thought he must have been Franklin that he admitted his past. Thornton hopes to play Franklin in a future movie and says, considering his insider knowledge, he was born to play the role.