What I’ve LEARNED at 85
THE BELOVED STAR OF THE SOUND OF MUSIC BELIEVES THAT YOU CAN “CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN” AT ANY AGE
In our hearts, Julie Andrews will always be young Maria singing on a mountaintop in The Sound of Music. Though she’s among the last great musical stars, she is anything but old-fashioned. The Oscar winner, who turned 85 on Oct. 1, respects the past, but lives in the present and has learned to adapt with the times.
She celebrated her birthday in modern style with a series of Zoom calls from around the world. “Julie is excited about reaching this new milestone in her life,” says an insider. “She feels wiser, but she doesn’t look or feel 85. She’s also become quite a pro with modern technology.”
The star remains close with her three daughters, Emma, 57, from her early union with Tony Walton, and Amy, 47, and Joanna, 45, from her marriage to the late director Blake Edwards. “Her children live all over the world,” says the insider. “Julie misses traveling to see them, but she’s also a homebody at heart.”
Home is an estate in New York’s Hamptons, very close to where Emma is raising grandchildren Sam, 20, and Hope, 13. “One of Julie’s favorite activities is to walk on the beach,” says the insider. She also keeps busy recording Julie’s Library, a podcast, as well as gardening, reading and doing crossword puzzles. “She believes in staying active — mentally as well as physically,” says the insider.
MIXED BLESSINGS
Julie’s also a great believer in the value of gratitude. “I have been lucky,” says the star, who grew up “very poor” but used her talent to make a better life. It wasn’t easy and she’s known sorrow — a botched operation nearly ruined Julie’s singing voice and she lost Blake, her husband of 41 years, in 2010 — but Julie endures. “She tries not to dwell on the past,” says the insider. “She knows that life is too short.”
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