JULIA ROBERTS
AS THE HOLLYWOOD ICON HITS A MILESTONE, SHE CHERISHES HOW FAR SHE’S COME
The Oscar winner reflects on what she’s learned about life, love and family as she rings in her 50th birthday.
She became a world-famous superstar by flashing her megawatt grin in hit romantic comedies like Pretty Woman and My Best Friend’s Wedding, but in recent years, Julia Roberts hasn’t always had reason to smile. Yet after enduring a series of personal travails, she has emerged stronger — and just in time to celebrate her 50th birthday on Oct. 28. She credits her hardwon happiness to Danny Moder, 48, her husband of 15 years and father of her three children. “When I think of what makes my life my life and makes sense and just shines inside of me, it’s him,” Julia says. “Everything has come from that for me.”
What a difference a few years makes. In 2014, Julia’s half-sister Nancy Motes committed suicide, and their beloved mother, Betty Lou, passed away the following year. The twin tragedies put a strain on Julia and Danny’s marriage, but they ultimately grew closer. “In the last couple of years, Julia has evolved into someone who is very centered and extremely self-confident,” Mark Bego, author of Julia Roberts: America’s Sweetheart, tells Closer. “When faced with family disasters, she has learned to withdraw and let the storm clouds pass.”
Julia has only attained this sense of inner calm with age and the wisdom that comes along with it. When she became a star in her early 20s, “I was my priority, a selfish little brat running around making films,” Julia says. “It was meeting Danny...finding my person” a decade later that started her on a path to lasting contentment.
MOTHER’S DAY
Becoming a mother to twins Phinnaeus and Hazel, 12, and son Henry, 10, also helped Julia to refocus her priorities, choosing family over fame. Most days you’ll find the actress “in the carpool lane ferrying my kids to school” or soccer practice, she says. “If I did much less, I wouldn’t be in the business at all.”
Her box-office luster has dimmed lately with duds like Money Monster and The Secret in Their Eyes, but Julia keeps it all in perspective. “Deep down, we all know you can’t stand on the top point of a pinnacle on your tiptoes, and not at some point lose your balance, or get tired, or say, ‘OK, somebody else take over, I have to go to the bathroom.’ ”
She’s become more choosy about taking roles that require her to be away from her home and family. “I just wait to see what comes along, as opposed to looking for it,” she explains. “It makes it fun and organic. There’s an almost unfair bar that a script has to attain for me to say, ‘I’m going to drop everything for this.’ ”
Having starred in films that have earned more than $2.7 billion worldwide and earned a best actress Oscar for 2000’s Erin Brockovich, Julia no longer feels the need to achieve any professional goals. “There are great things I’ve accomplished, and I’m happy to accomplish more, of course, to impress my children and my husband,” Julia says. “But you know what? I’ve been spoilt already.” — Bruce Fretts,
with reporting by Marc Cetner
“I’m better for all the things that happened to me, good and bad.”
— Julia