Julia Roberts covers the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar because she’s got a bunch of new stuff coming out, like Amazon’s series Homecoming, and the feature film Ben Is Back. Many believe that Julia is going to have an Oscar campaign for Ben Is Back, where she plays the mom of a opioid-addict son in recovery (played by Lucas Hedges). I think she’s probably got a good shot at an Emmy nomination for Homecoming too. So Julia is ready to campaign, and of course Oprah is here to help her. Oprah conducted this interview for Harper’s Bazaar and it’s full of Oprah-isms and such. But it’s actually not too annoying. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Whether her kids see the tabloid stories about divorce & scandal: “For the most part [we’re able to shield our children]. Sometimes we are in the grocery store and I won’t even know something is out, but we’ll see a tabloid and we’ll all be standing there like, “Oh, that’s uncomfortable. This is really uncomfortable.” It can still hurt my feelings, because I’m so proud of my marriage. We just celebrated being married for 16 years this Fourth of July, and there’s so much happiness wrapped up in what we’ve found together.”
On playing a mom to Lucas Hedges: “Lucas Hedges, who plays my son, came and stayed with us for a while, got to know Danny and the kids really well all before we started shooting. I felt that it was important for my kids to know who I was going off with, pretending to be their mother. My son Henry had said to me, “Mom, why in movies when you play somebody’s mom, why is it always a boy?” And I said, “Wow, I don’t know. You know what? We’re going to have Lucas come over and you guys are going to meet him.” So Lucas came over, as did beautiful Kathryn Newton, who plays my older daughter. I would just send them down to the beach with my kids. “Go for a swim, and I’ll see you guys in an hour and I’ll have lunch ready.”
Why she joined Instagram: “Well, a few things. I think one of the things, obviously my kids were asking about it. “Why don’t you do that? That’d be cool… It’s definitely a balancing act, and it’s been tricky figuring out what to post because I am private, but I am also friendly. I know that Sarah Jessica Parker, who is a friend and a person I really admire, has an incredible Instagram. She has conversations with people.
The bad sh-t of Instagram: “Something did happen recently on my niece Emma’s Instagram that I think taught me a lot about what it’s like being a young person in today’s society. One weekend morning Emma slept over, and we got up and were having tea and playing cards and having this beautiful morning, and then a couple of days later she posted a picture of us. And the number of people who felt absolutely required to talk about how terrible I looked in the picture—that I’m not aging well, that I look like a man, why would she even post a picture like this when I look that terrible! And I was amazed at how that made me feel. I’m a 50-year-old woman and I know who I am, and still my feelings got hurt. I was sad that people couldn’t see the point of it, the sweetness of it, the absolute shining joy of that photo. I thought, “What if I was 15?” I was so happy that happened because I had this whole new glimpse into a way of living that I didn’t get at all. You have to go through things to understand them, and this was just a little paper cut of what can really go on with social media.
How Trump’s presidency affected her: “I think it’s impossible not to be affected by it. When Donald Trump was elected, my daughter, Hazel, came down and the TV was on, and it said on the crawl at the bottom, Trump wins, and she kind of gasped because of course we all had this collective hope that something else was going to happen. And what I saw in that exact moment was the complete need for me as a parent to find a way to make her feel that she could still have a voice. That’s why we went to the first Women’s March in Washington—I wanted her to feel like she still had a place in the world, that she could still believe in what she believed in, even though someone else was now president. It was very powerful for me to have her in a way be my leader into this space of marching and participating in being a citizen of this country.
I kind of love that she invited her Ben Is Back “kids” to stay with her and then she basically made them babysit her real kids. Free childcare! And she’s basically saying that she joined Instagram because she thinks Sarah Jessica Parker is cool and she wants to emulate SJP. Huh. As for what she says about the Trump administration, I’ve thought about that a lot, and I haven’t envied the conversations all of you parents have needed to have with your kids. How do you even explain Donald Trump and this administration to a six-year-old or a 10-year-old? How do you explain the rise of American fascism to a child? How do you explain that it’s okay to feel afraid because the orange clown in the White House is doing irreparable damage?
Covers courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar.
I broke down in tears the morning after the election when I had to tell my 13 and 11 year old. Now I tell them every f@cking day that this is not normal and we have to fight against it.
When I talk to my children about it, I emphasize the values that the President SHOULD have, which are things we value in our home: acceptance, compassion, intellect and a never-ending desire to learn, open-mindedness, inclusiveness. We talk about bullying and divisiveness, and how those aren’t American values.
My now-11 year-old came in the kitchen the day after the election and said, “mom, what happened?” and I had to hold it together as I watched his bright eyes fill with tears and his sweet little face start to crumple when I told him that trump had “won.” I couldn’t let him see me cry because he was already so upset.
I took my daughter, now 6, to the first women’s march too, along with my sister, because I wanted her to be part of that gathering and that energy.
It’s hard to talk to kids about what is happening today; I am continually amazed and proud of how insightful and thoughtful my kids are, though, because we talk about the importance of political independence, and how it is okay to have different beliefs than other people, but we have to do so in a way that is respectful and civil, not like what the Orange Menace does on a daily basis.
My son asked me about Hitler the other day, and why he wanted to kill all of the Jews, and I tried my best to answer in a way that was age-appropriate but also touched on the fear of the “other” and the ways that people in power can either divide us or unite us. I told him that only weak people fear people who are “different” from them and that the differences make us all stronger and unique. I told him that our current president was trying to make us all fear each other, and hate each other, and forget that we all share the same world and many of the same values. I know I’m rambling, but I try to make sure that I am honest with them, but point out all of the ways that we can combat all of the negativity in our country.
I took them with me to vote this week (I always do when I can manage to, because I think it’s important for them to see voting as a vital part of our democracy.) We talk A LOT. My husband and I have ongoing conversations with our son about the electoral college, and the popular vote, and gerrymandering, and judicial independence. It’s really hard, but I feel that I owe it to them to explain the problems in a way they can understand, but to also point out solutions whenever possible. Kind of a dumpster-fire version of Mr. Rogers’ “look for the helpers.” Sigh.
I love your Mr. Rodgers reference. My kids are grown up and very political. We also talked about politics and the importance of voting and being involved continually when they were growing up. Sounds like you are doing a great job, during a really difficult time in our nation’s history. I lived through Nixon, Reagan and Bush and trump is in a whole new class of horribleness that I never thought we would see.
This has been tough on children. I have a daughter I adopted from Guatemala. How do you reassure your 11 year old, brown, legal daughter that she is not going to get kicked out or taken bc of dump? How do you stop all the racism she is suddenly subjected to at school bc the orange nazi has emboldened other children to make nasty comments about her? I have no answers except I would really like this to stop and I truly cannot believe how bad it has gotten:
To assuage my 11 year olds fears we- my family and her grandparents have told her we would leave the country and we definitely would if it became necessary. The whole thing just suck
I’m sorry this is happening to you and your daughter. I cannot imagine the fear she faces, let alone the bullying.
To be honest many years I wanted to win the Green Card Lottery to come (legally) to the US – I truly believed it to be (more) welcoming in diversity than my own country. Well, after Trump winning the election I didn’t even bother to apply for it this year.
Warm hugs to those who live in this nightmare. And remember – this sh*t show will end one day. It has to.
I’m surprised Trump is allowing the Green Card Lottery to continue. Doesn’t seem like him.
I played for many years, and won in 2015. We came over in early 2016 and since the election disaster, we are contemplating leaving again, pretty much every day. I still like America, but it is hard to be here, and see that shit first hand and being unable to do anything and I am so scared of the midterms. I wish we could vote.
It’s possible he doesn’t know about it.
I can’t decide if I’m jealous or she’s smug….talking about her marriage.
SMUG.
“A Low Vera”
NEVER FORGET.
Whatwhat, I’m with you. I will never forget that shirt. THAT is who she is.
Yeah that shirt sealed the deal on my opinion of her. I haven’t liked her since then at all. I think she tries to come across as a nice girl but she secretly can be nasty.
Or the fact that years later on Oprah, Julia said it was a private matter and stood by her t-shirt.
@ Kim : It is strange that Roberts said it was a private matter but she wore the A-Low-Vera t-shirt out in public where she must have known she would be papped.
Yes, that was the first thought I had: how the powerful multi-millionaire movie star Julia Roberts had a teeshirt specially made to publicly shame Vera Moder into divorcing her husband Danny, with whom Roberts was having an on-set affair. Danny and Vera had only been married for a couple of years at the time, as I understand it. Vera was close to Danny’s parents and they were furious that Julua Roberts was on a public bullying campaign to break up their son and his wife. Vera reportedly suffered a miscarriage when this happened. I haven’t been interested in seeing ANY Julia Roberts film since her A Low Vera grandstanding. She went from being America’s Sweetheart to being the Wicked Witch of the West overnight, and just speaking for myself, I’ve had no time for her since then.
Yeah that Tshirt resurfaced in my mind when I read the headline to this.
What’s worse is she wore that shirt after she offered his wife a couple million to divorce him and the wife refused the money.
A friend of mine worked with Vera during the time Roberts was wrenching Moder away, and she said Roberts would call several times a day to scream invective at her, calling her a bitch and saying that Moder didn’t love her – pretty ballsy since she was the other woman. Moder dragged his feet about leaving Vera, though – there was nothing wrong with their marriage, his parents hated Roberts for trying to wreck it (think they’ve changed their minds since then), he’d have to get Jewish divorce as well as a civil one, etc. It was a mess. Think Roberts wasn’t used to anyone fighting back, and it enraged her. Well, Moder’s a whipped dog now – hope it was worth it.
She was born smug. Her husband is probably terrified of her
I still think they’ll end up divorced.
I do too!
I’ve long thought that they will quietly split up once the kids are 18 or so. And that time is growing closer.
As a parent of elementary school aged kids, you need to act like everything is okay. That you don’t like what Trump does but that we’re safe (even though you may not think so on the inside.) It’s important for kids to feel secure. Once they hit middle school and definitely in high school, we have a lot of discussions about specific policies, or thoughts on them, discussions of civility. My 9th grader is taking journalism, so he’s very aware of all news-we have interesting conversations. I still don’t want my 14 year old to feel like our country is going down the tubes, so I am still careful about what I say.
Exactly- the tough part is maintaining the optimism (in front of my kids) that we as a nation are going to get past this and become a better society than we are right now. We live in a liberal area and kids talk to each other about what they’ve heard their parents say, and my kids get freaked out about nuclear war and climate change killing us all. We can’t live like that.
On the other hand, Trump’s incredible immaturity and transparent bullying are very recognizable to kids and mine are very aware that he is a mean, small, cruel person lacking compassion. It sickens me to think that there are parents teaching their children to idolize him.
My husband and I talk with our kids (14, 12, and 10) about current events and they are certainly disheartened by the state of our country …but we are deliberate about saying that elections have consequences and that we bring about change when we vote. My kids are obviously too young to vote now but they have phone banked and canvassed with me and they are volunteering with me as greeters at our polling place on election day. My two girls have joined a girls’ leadership club that empowers them to use their voices for good and my 10 year old boy, who has a strong moral compass, is the first to speak up when he hears something racist or homophobic. I think the silver lining in raising kids right now is they are learning what kind of climate they do not want to live in and they know they will have to actively be part of bringing about change.
I read somewhere someone had said that celebs try so hard to make the mundane things sound so Enlightened and like whimsical. I think it was here regarding will Smith and Jada and their description of regular events of dating they tried so hard to romanticize.. And Julia Roberts is doing exactly that. Can’t u just say you had tea with your niece? No you gotta make sure everyone knows how BEAUTIFUL your morning was. These celebs…masters of overcompensating
Reading this interview, I’m reminded what a pro she is. She can say interesting, meaningful things without sticking her foot in her mouth.
Yes, she’s smug. Whatever, I don’t hate it. She was the first actress to command $20 million dollars a film. It was a big deal. I don’t even know that there’s any other actresses doing that today, almost 20 years later.
The celebrity of Julia Roberts is something that I remember so, so clearly from the early 90’s. It was huge. SHE was huge. I have never witnessed another “IT” girl in Hollywood with the star power she had.
I think now it’s Scarlett (and Angelina) who gets that and before her was Kidman.
wrong spot
And Jlaw now.
Julia Roberts was only 22 or so when she became the biggest thing ever. That’s bit starling to think about (how young she was). She took a break, came back, and was still continued to be huge. People of all ages seemed to gravitate towards her, sort of like with Princess Diana. It’s kind of peculiar how famous she was (since sometimes she can be kind of annoying).
She was definitely up there with Princess Diana. I seem to recall there being some list out there that put her as the most sought after person in the world to photograph, with the exception of Diana. You’re right, she was SO young, but she became the gold standard to everything in Hollywood. It was crazy. I understood why she backed away and took that break. She had been put up on such a high pedestal by everyone. I honestly can’t think of a single actress that has come close to captivating the public the way Julia did way back then. There have been big actresses, big stars, but none on the level of that time in 1990-1991 when Julia sort of took over the planet.
And she seemed to captivate the public without even trying. It seemed kind of effortless. A lot of stars like J-Law or even Selena Gomez have big teams around them who seem to help them handle the machinery. Julia Roberts’s personal life at the time was kind of messy (you’d want a publicist to clamp down hard on those stories) and yet her career just seemed to keep on going like gangbusters (regardless of how bad her movies were). I know they didn’t have social media back then, but tabloid media was still huge and her personal life was covered by news broadcasters (which I think is actually a little stranger than getting coverage on Twitter and Instagram which still doesn’t have the “authority” of mainstream corporate news corporations. She would even act kind of witchy in interviews and people still loved her — go back to some of those old interviews with Barbara Walters on Youtube and someone like J-Law would be excoriated for using that tone).
Maybe she had such huge attention back then she really doesn’t need it now (in a way that I think other stars need to keep hold of less fame) and that’s why she’s content with being low-key.
@L8t4Tea, in 1990-1991 julia roberts did not sort of took over the planet – in the US, maybe, but countries in other continents in other parts of the planet have their own female superstar during that time. no snark intended, just putting the scale of the discussion in perspective.
Julia has always been a tough nut to crack. I never know if she’s being sincere or not.
Just looked at the picture of Emma and Julia and feel sad the trolls came out. So much hate. Lovely they are close.
Really? I always thought emma was dead behind the eyes
I will never forget that t-shirt
She is Not a nice person
It makes sense that she looks up to SJP
Me too. That t-shirt. Imagine if Jolie did that. She will be shredded to pieces.
Me either, the way she acted after playing a huge part in destroying a marriage completely changed my view of her, she’s a spoiled brat who got she wanted no matter the cost. I’m sure her marriage isn’t that great either.
I think her people did a lot of work to cover that up so the media wouldnt discuss it much. I do rememeber seeing the pictures but not a lot of coverage like articles written
I want to see that pic now lollll. Oh Julia. Hurts to realize that your little bubble blows smoke up your @ss about your shining moments. Get over it.
https://goo.gl/images/BmqtfY
“How do you explain that it’s okay to feel afraid because the orange clown in the White House is doing irreparable damage?”
I refuse to believe that the damage done by him is permanent. I want to believe that the country will heal. As far as international politics are concerned I am sure things will be smooth sailing once the government gets reelected. I don’t live in america so I cannot judge on how terrible you all must be suffering from the bombs and the news and everything, but I want to believe that this too will fade one day as a memory, as will the memories of the separation camps of those poor children at the border. I refuse to believe that you cannot turn this around and make things right again. Just start fighting. Go on the streets. Vote. Be kind to your fellow humans, every day. You can do this. We believe in you.
Kisses from europe.
You warm my heart & soul…thanks so very much 💕
It reminds me of someone who is protesting a bit too much (the marriage stuff).
That’s what I think too.
To be honest, I’m kind of surprised she even got married and had children. She seemed so addicted to her own charisma and effect on men, I figured she’d wind up alone. Oh, how wrong I was.
My kids use an Obama ruler and they think Dump is ridiculous.
…lol…so why isn’t a movie being made of all that Vera stuff…outstanding…