Julia Roberts is a star from another age. Julia is perhaps one of the last old-school movie stars, the kind of movie star that never had to get a Twitter account or a Facebook page to interact with fans. Julia doesn’t want to interact with you. She’s above you and she would never dream of interacting with you, especially not on social media. Julia became famous and maintained her fame in the late 80s and throughout the 90s, before blogs and Twitter and such. She kept the few tabloids in print back then, and she was the biggest thing around. In the aughts, Julia began taking a step back from her movie star throne – she began spending most of her time in New Mexico, she got married and had her babies, and she didn’t work that much. But when she did work, she expected people to treat her like she was still the biggest movie star around, and they did for the most part.
But nowadays… is Julia still a big deal? In her mind, she’s still a big deal, I’m sure. But I think the affection people had for her two decades ago has largely faded. Sure, people in her industry still love her – Julia just scored a SAG and a Globe nomination, after all. But I’m not sure the rest of us really care that much. Is this what Julia wanted all along? Or does she have regrets about her faded star power? Julia recently spoke to In Touch about how “great” it is that reality stars are all the rage now:
Julia Roberts is one of the biggest movie stars in the world — but she values her privacy and prefers to stay out of the public eye. The mother of three admits to In Touch that she is thankful for over-the-top TV families like the Kardashians.
“As a film actor, I’m [only] inviting people to pay attention to my characters. But if you’re a reality star, by virtue you are asking and inviting people to pay attention to you,” Julia explains in the new issue of In Touch, on newsstands now. “It’s great because they take that attention away from me.”
She hasn’t ever watched an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but hasn’t ruled it out just yet. “I think there’s still time,” Julia jokes with In Touch of the famous family’s long-running reality show. “They’re still on TV, aren’t they?”
The actress also reveals that reality TV is one of her guilty pleasures! “I love Project Runway because I love to sew,” the actress admits to In Touch. “I’ve also seen Housewives a little bit.”
I’m trying to decide if Julia was shade-baiting. “They’re still on TV, aren’t they?” Like she doesn’t know! Like she doesn’t have an opinion on Lucifer’s Homegirl! Anyway, do you think Julia IS happy that reality stars get all the attention now? Or is she a little bit like… “Whoa, I’m not a big deal anymore”? I’m not even sure she’s self-aware enough to even consider that she’s not a big deal anymore though.
Also, Julia has some thoughts about marriage:
Julia Roberts and her husband of 11 years, Danny Moder, have defied the odds of Hollywood romances, but the Pretty Woman actress reveals to Life & Style that marriage should be for anyone — gay or straight.
“I believe in marriage for everybody,” Julia explains to Life & Style, on newsstands now.
“It should be as difficult to get married as it is to get a driver’s license,” she jokes to the mag. “Less people would get married.”
She adds every marriage has its own secret to success and happiness. So what is Julia and Danny’s secret to wedded bliss?
“Making out every day!” she admits to Life & Style. “Think about it!”
What do you have to do to get married in most states? You have to go get a marriage license and you have to get some kind of registered minister or what have you to officiate your wedding. Which… sounds like more drama than getting a driver’s license, to me at least. Julia makes it sound like “getting a driver’s license” is the hardest thing ever. Maybe she’s talking about the driving test? Julia thinks people should have to take tests before they’re allowed to get married? Er… no bueno.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I believe she is referring to the state of Georgia, where I live. They changed the rules on getting and renewing your license. And they’ve made it so very, very, difficult.
As they should, yet there are still folks driving on the interstates that have no idea what they’re doing. Gotta love the low-speeders in the fast lane.
As for the less attention on her, with the way she reacts to paps sometimes I think she’s okay with it. She has got some crazy eyes in these pictures.
It’s not just Georgia. I think they’re changing rules everywhere. Making it soooo much more difficult. Birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce decrees, photo ID, two proofs of residence, urine sample, blood sample, DNA analysis. And on and on and on. I have been clients who have been married and divorced a couple times and they have to request those documents from whatever states they occurred in. It’s mind boggling and beyond frustrating.
Kaiser, where do you live that going to the DMV is not the most obnoxious exercise in existence??? I’ve never even been married, and the DMV is hell on earth. Last time I needed to renew, I had to make three trips!
Oh, don’t get me wrong, my DMV sucks and it’s a huge time-waster. But the last time I had to renew my license, I didn’t even have to go to the DMV! They just sent me a notice, I sent a check and they sent me a new license.
Dang. I live in Wisconsin and the last two times I renewed my license I was in and out of the DMV in 20 mins or less. Never been married, never moved out of state, though, so maybe that’s why?
I don’t think she is referring to the renewal of a driver’s license. My state requires teen age applicants to sit through a 36-hour course and have 45 hours of on the road practice. That is way more than what my state requires for a marriage license. For once, I agree with Julia.
I also think she had a huge fall in popularity when she married DM. It was the same with the other ‘America’s sweetheart’ Meg Ryan when she took up with Russell Crowe.
It’s difficult in South Dakota too. I get the statement, because getting your drivers lisence is a huge PIA! The marriage certificate alone is always frustrating.
OOOOOOH MG, yes!! I’m still a resident of GA, but live out of State due to my hubby’s work. I wanted to pull my hair out a year or so ago when I had to go down to renew my license! It was RIDIC! Hoops and redtape and a whole lotta “Jump, b*tch!”
Was Danny married to his then-partner, Vera, when Julia swooped in for the grab? Or were they a long-term partnership but not legally wed?
I believe Danny Moder & Vera were married at the time.
They were married, Julia’s A Low Vera T-shirt was because she thought Vera was holding up the divorce proceedings.
That’s what I thought, too. Thanks for confirming, Kaiser!
Isn’t it just wonderful the way she respects the sanctity of marriage?
Frida_K, if Julia Roberts respected the sanctity of marriage, she would still be married to Lyle Lovett.
i heard Julia paid her off too,or paid for Danny’s lawyers,or some sort of payment occurred???
ALLEGEDLY she did indeed pony up a great deal of cash to his then wife. So basically she’s saying just pay off the DMV with bribe money to get what you want.
He had been married several years when the swoop started after she spotted him working on a movie set. Her wedding occurred on Independence Day (days after his divorce was final).
That was my first thought. Because it’s not like he and his wife were separated or anything—the woman was pregnant, like 5, 6 months (if I’m remembering right). So my first thought when I read that headline was coughalowveracough…..why didn’t more tabloids go after her? I would’ve thought that that was a huge thing–especially for “America’s Sweetheart”. Maybe because neither Vera or Danny are famous?
Reminds me of another couple. 😉
Ugh, I also read a few of Julia’s PEOPLE articles on the subject–I absolutely hate it when a celeb gets caught cheating, denies all allegations, and then when they’re with their new other half, they start with the ‘we/they had been having problems for a long time’–that’s exactly what Julia/Moder did. Say that he and Vera had been thinking of divorce or separating for a long time. Which her pregnancy kind of belies that in my mind.
And just from what I hear of Julia’s ego, I am firmly convinced that she married a camera man so she could be the star. Plus I have an irrational hate towards her because she got to ride the Liam dong AT MY AGE, and then dumped him…..*evil eye*
She might get more respect now if she just admitted they had a messy, hurtful start to their relationship, but that they have defied the odds.
Back in 2001 or so, Vera predicted their marriage wouldn’t last long because each had a roving eye, and he would never enjoy the fishbowl life. Julia did drop out of the spotlight and started having children quickly.
I do recall reading they were trying to start a family. Based on how his family sided with Vera in the beginning, I don’t believe they had a rocky marriage (at least before the movie star started calling him).
@Christin–the PEOPLE article I read, said as much. That the family was on her side….
Vera was NOT pregnant at the time. She and Moder never had children.
He was married and they had two small children. People usually overlook that fact … Julia certainly did. And then she cast shade at his ex-wife because she attempted to save her marriage (after being blind-sided by the news of Julia and her husband) and keep her family together (he’d fathered two children with her).
As I recall, Julia also wore some kind of derogatory t-shirt at the time about Danny’s (ex) wife, because his (ex) wife was trying to fight the divorce.
Julia is someone who truly deserved to be raked over coals of public opinion, because she went after Danny knowing there were small children involved, and she just didn’t care.
And his sister supported the ex-wife.
I never knew he had other kids. Jeez. That makes her wearing that show even more awful and skantastic than it already was.
Which makes all this Marriage sanctimony from HER mouth (aka the lady that broke up a marriage… Oh and also left her fiancé a few days prior to the wedding to go nuzzle with HIS BFF) just the creamiest, most rich and delicious of ironies… Really this is both decadent and fattening!
Well, what comes around goes around.
Yes, he was married. So in Julia’s “needs to be difficult to get married” world, would she have automatically failed because he was already married? I think so!
Well, round here you would have to complete 30 hours of theory, a test, 10 hours of first aid, a test and 35 hours of practice with an instructor ( that would be weird, wouldn’t it), lol. I really think less people would get married.
Blimey, Spooks, where in the world do you live?!
(If you don’t mind me asking ^^ )
Croatia. You have to be 18 to take it and it costs more than an average month’s salary. Oh, and I don’t think you can take a test on an automatic.
But, pretty much everyone knows how to drive.
its about the same in a lot of other european countries.
how I wish it were the same here (NM) people are such idiot drivers here!
Yeah, I don’t know. Where I live (Belgium) it’s so f**ing expensive: around 1000 euros for the lessons with an instructor. And obviously you have to pass the theory as well.
It’s so much money and a lot of studying and yet I’m not sure people here are that much better at driving.
Yeah, similar where I live. We also have this “drive eco friendly” course which I love. It’s hard and expensive getting your license in europe!!
She’s making crazy eyes in all these photos.
I think she’s still very famous, but doesn’t have the box office pull or general public interest she once did. I do think it was smart to move out of the spotlight and raise her kids outside of Hollywood though.
she has similar crazy eyes to Winona Ryder–too much botox maybe? you see too much of the whites of their eyes
Judging by drivers on the road today, it should be more difficult to get your DL Jules.
I want to poke my eyes out when I see her in that outfit. She needs some poking too.
LOL with you on this! Crazy eyes!
“Fewer” people would get married, not “less”. Ugh. Anyway, I believe she’s a bit disingenuous with her Kardashian remark. I bet she avidly watches every show, ha ha.
+ 1
Dear God, she’s insipid.
What’s with the pursing and squatting on the red carpet. Julia just couldnt hold it in any longer??
I’m not a fan — never liked her acting, can’t help thinking she’s a narcissistic asshole — BUT I think she is genuinely happy to be out of the limelight and living a quiet life in NM. I’m not sure why. Maybe because she has so many supporters in the biz that she’s confident she’ll still find roles, even if she stays out of Hollywood.
Just from other posts on Julia–these are from years ago, I think she likes it because she’s the famous one. A few people posted on her threads from a few years back saying that they lived in the same town, and that she was one of those celebs who said they didn’t want any special treatment or anything, but was all ‘Move that peasant, I’m Julia Roberts!’.
hmm its not like everyone with a drivers license should be driving a car, you know 🙂 if you see how many people pass those test and then see the way they drive…
Man, the crazy just radiates from her these days doesn’t it.
I think it should be harder to get pregnant than getting a driver’s license. In my fantasy you’d have to pass a rigorous test of common sense; that way, if you’re inbred and dangerously stupid, you don’t get the chance to screw up another human being to grow up and start the pattern all over again.
I couldn’t help but think the same thing with having children
This drives me crazy. My news feed is full of people who barely have their lives together but can get pregnant at the drop of a hat while I’ve had to deal with fertility issues for a few years now. It doesn’t seem fair.
Ugh. I’m so sorry-that must be really hard. 🙁
That’s why I never understand it when people constantly Facebook about their pregnancies..it seems like it would be so hurtful for people who have infertility issues, just throwing it in their face.
+1,000,000, GG!
I understand that it would be painful to see peoples profiles about there pregnancy when a person has fertility issues. But people post their life events & moments on there and pregnancy is one of them. It would upset a single person to see another engagement, wedding post or a person with health issues see another person run a marathon, the list could go on. Facebook is to a lot of people about sharing these things with others and I can understand why they do it & that most are not meaning to be hurtful.
Crazy eyes! Why was the huge, privacy obsessed star talking to In Touch and Life & Style and not someone like People? Do they have some dirt on her to trade off?
In theory, I get what shes saying. Look at how many people (like Kim Kardashian) who get married for a couple months and then divorced. Perhaps she’s annoyed by people like that, who don’t take it very seriously. *Shrugs*.
given how less seriously *she* took marriage, i doubt very much that would be a reason.
As someone who was married at 19 because I was ‘so in love’, (I wasn’t, I was just an idiot with a crappy home life) I kind of agree with this. Not so much make it a test and such but make it a little bit more of an issue to get. My marriage went downhill quickly and after trying for a few years, I woke up and realized that the marriage I was in was toxic and needed to get out so I started divorce proceedings. I then found out we had to be legally separated for a year before I would be granted a divorce. If we had been legally required to be together for a year or something along those lines, maybe things would have been different. Now I am not placing the blame somewhere else, I was an idiot pure and simple, I made that choice and my choices are my responsibility. I just think if it can be such a hassle to get divorced at least make it a little difficult to actually pledge to spend the rest of your life with someone.
I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself. I’m sure you’ve learned things from your marriage beneficial to your spiritual growth.
I find it hard to believe she doesn’t know that the K show is still running. She does seem a little delusional about her current level of fame, among other things.
She would probably like for everyone to think her marriage was a fairytale (I believe she once indicated she was “destined” to be his wife) instead of the dramatic mess it really was.
She rarely mentions anything of depth about him or their relationship. She usually talks about how hot he looks or in this case, making out daily.
Not everyone should be quoted.
So, so true.
She’s starting to sound a littile Tom Cruisey. What the what?
I love that you used these “crazy eye” pictures of her! I’ve always found her self-centred and self-important. As someone else earlier in the thread mentioned, she did make a wise choice to raise her children away from Hollywood.
Whenever I see her I remember when she attended George Clooney’s roast and she said that if she didn’t meet and marry Danny Moder, she would have married George. The look on Clooney’s face was priceless when they panned back to him…
That’s funny (about Clooney and her roast comment). As if it wouldn’t be a mutual decision, right? George was the rumored reason she left Benjamin B., but later the timeline suggests Moder was already in her sights. Maybe she was juggling both, who knows? She was at the top of her game then, pay wise and I’m sure the thoughts of being a power couple with George crossed HER mind.
I do agree it is good she raised her kids away from the spotlight. But I do wonder if part of it was to keep her husband a bit off the radar as well. His work history since marrying her has been occasional jobs on projects that appear directly tied to her or her production company.
Ooh – forgot about Benjamin B – she probably WISHED she was juggling both Danny and George!! And marriage as a mutual decision – never crossed her mind I’ll bet!
Good point about keeping Danny away from work – and away from other high profile women!!
Mmm Benjamin.
I don’t know if she is being honest about the Kartrashions but I would think that a lot of legit actors/stars are thrilled about these fame whoring desperate reality stars. I mean these people want to be in magazine’s so bad they don’t care what is said, it does allow stars the freedom to live their lives more.
To get a driver’s license in most states you have to pass a written test, have so many hours of practice driving, and then pass a driving test.
To get married you have to get a license and that’s it.
I just pictured Lyle Lovett, Benjamin Bratt and Kiefer Sutherland having a drink and snickering over her comments about marriage.
Awesome mental picture!
It was much harder for me to get a driver’s license than to get married. My husband and I got married at a courthouse. We walked in, signed up for a license, and walked out married in less than 2 hours. And all we had to do was pay for the license ($50, I think) and wait.
For my driver’s license, I had to bring a car to test drive, sit down and take a written exam and wait at the DMV for about 3.5 hours. And that was after the permit. So I agree in that marrying should be harder than licenses. I don’t think she was saying that licenses are super difficult, just that getting married is TOO easy.
And I had to renew my license and I had to bring so many documents for proof of who I was it was mind-boggling. All of that went down after 9-11, which I get.
She has “crazy eyes”.
Even here in Vegas you still have to get the license before a “quickie” wedding. And in Nevada (at least in my county) if you have children you also have to take a parenting class before you can get divorced. It’s not that easy! As for Julia, I’m not certain that she was shade baiting but perhaps avoiding commenting too much on that subject. And she can stay as private as she wants, the less of her I see or hear the better. I’ve never liked her even when she was a “big movie star”.
this woman is a #MESS, I just can’t….
Idk her intent with a line like that, but I don’t mind. I’ll say I’m a tv snob bc I don’t watch kardashian/real housewife shows. I don’t consider them stars and I make fun of ppl who watch the shows knowing that they are fake.
F-yeah! More rules!!! F common sense!
I have a license in both Maryland and Illinois and both times it was a total nightmare to get a driver’s license, so I can relate on that point.
Um … so says the homewrecker who had an affair with a married man and induced him to leave his wife. Whatever. And this post opens up with a great summary of Julia’s career. Her time has well and truly passed as far as her leading-lady status. I’m pretty sure she’s just going to be relegated to “Mom” roles from here on out (as in “Mom of young woman in her twenties” or “Mom of teenage character,” not “pre-menopausal Mom of five-year-old.”)
Julia is someone who aged out of her beauty. It happens to some people, they have a glorious glowing charisma when young – and she did – but it fades.
Now she’s hardly ugly, but she has an ordinary attractiveness which isn’t nearly as striking.
And her acting chops weren’t such that she is going to be pulling in major roles based on those. She was never in a Meryl Streep/Helen Mirren/Cate Blanchett league. She has zero like ability so she can’t pull the roles Sandra Bullock does, either.
So, yes, she is someone who had a great career but that stage is over. I doubt anyone under the age of thirty cares about her at all.
Very well put. I agree with you.
Julia was never really beautiful, she had a certain je ne sais quoi that would attract a lot of men. Lord knows she knew it and made use of it and I can’t fault her that tbh.
But I dislike her so much because of the Moder ‘A low Vera’ situation and her all-round smugness that is way worse than Goop’s.
That said, Roberts will always be a great A-lister, she doesn’t need acting talent to sustain this position just like she didn’t need it to when she started her acting career. She’s a Movie Star, one of the few ones left. This is a woman who has documented evidence of homewrecking and scandals throughout her life yet it didn’t drag her down or follow her unlike Stewart, Jolie or Ryan. she’s very rarely mentioned in those ‘top 10 cheating scandals lists’ . She almost actively encouraged the negative gossip and it didn’t effect her so for that ‘zero likeability’ suggestion is dead wrong. She stayed a ‘Sweetheart’ and didn’t have to redeem herself at all. It took Jolie 6 children and charity work, Stewart still has to bite the dust PR-wise and Ryan doesn’t have a career anymore!
Roberts decided to take a 2-year-break because she could afford it and to keep her sanity, how many actresses these days would do that or are able to do that? Roberts was essentially, irreplaceable because during that hiatus, she got offered the role of Annie Reed and turned it down and Ryan got the role so yeah…
She just has it, charisma. It sucks but it is what it is. The woman effortlessly does wathever the fuck she wants without a lot of backlash.
Artemis, that was an articulate defense of her – but I don’t see the continued charisma, and I certainly don’t see effortlessness in her persona. There’s a lot of smugness, and more than a touch of eager desperation. I would say that the lack of backlash over her cheating with her now husband was more of a factor of the public not really caring, not Roberts having any type of likeable persona. I would be amazed to hear her described as likeable by any media outlet now!
I don’t agree at all that Roberts is at the level of Jolie now. And as you get older in Hollywood, you *do* need talent – the ones who hang around past their thirties all have it.
Yeah yeah yeah, no way her and her husband still make out every day. I’m calling shenanigans.
Getting a driver’s license here in NY isn’t hard, it’s sitting in the damn DMV for hours that’s a bitch.
I sometimes think you should have to register an intention to marry 6 months ahead of time. Then again, it’s not the marriages that cause most conflict these days. It’s the babies caught up in relationships that have crashed and burned. And you don’t need a wedding ceremony to create those.
You’ve described her very accurately, Kaiser. I had 2 minor encounters with her in New Mexico years ago (too minor yet involved to recount here) and she’s definitely a legend in her own mind.
If you don’t share in her projection, believe me, it makes it a very strange experience being around her. I think her connections were such that she never needed to be nice to anyone — bully for her.
She’s been photographed parking in handicapped space and she recently was brought on stage in a wheelchair simply because her shoes hurt her feet.
There have just been too many stories of her smugness through the years. She had at least one younger co-star call her out for allegedly being rude when the younger actress was a waitress years before.
By this point, most 20-somethings barely know who she is and certainly wouldn’t necessarily bow to her in LA.
I can’t stand Julia Roberts but Danny Moder didn’t have any children with his ex-wife Vera. She has remarried and I believe has kids with the current husband.
Actually, he does have at least two kids by his ex-wife. She was pregnant when he started screwing around with Julia Roberts.
not true she had a son in 2004.. I googled Danny and the only children that pop up are the ones he has with Julia.. so unless those other 2 are invisible or something they are not popping up anywhere in his bio..
He has 3 children with Julia. that is all I could find on line.
I still love Julia. The actresses are okay but Julia is my girl and there will never be a star like her
I so agree. I am a family law attorney who had been doing divorce law for over 25 years, and I just can’t live through another consultation where I have to tell a woman, or a man, who comes to me at 45 or 50 to divorce the unemployed, drunken spouse on the couch when the children reach collage age because they can no longer pay to support the unemployed spouse and pay college tuition as well. Imagine the heartbreak when I tell them that not only do they have to continue to support the unemployed spouse, probably for life, but also that they cannot get help, or even deduct from the cost of the support, the college tuition they pay for non minor children. I am trying so hard to build a business doing premarital counseling, just so people know the terms of the agreement they are entering in to, but no one in the first excitement of love wants to hear it. I have tried reaching out at bridal fairs, but I have had women drag the men away from my booth, let alone come talk to me themselves. For less than the cost of the flowers, they could take steps to protect their future and that of their children, even without a prenuptial agreement, but they don’t want to educate themselves. It breaks my heart on a daily basis.
It’s great that you are trying to help people, Brooke! I have to say that our laws are really messed up if two adults with adult children can’t get divorced and go their own ways without having to pay money to support the other. If I had seen you at my local bridal fair, only cost would have prevented me from speaking with you. lol
So happy to hear that I’m not crazy! And the cost is no more than a special dinner out, to save thousands (or hundreds of thousands) on the back end. I just wish I knew how to get my message out. If I could just explain to newlyweds the effect of signing those quitclaim deeds, or the long term effect of business women allowing their spouse not to work so he can pursue artistic pursuits, I would sleep much better at night.
I love how this delusional bitch STILL thinks everyone talks about or cares about her.
And why does she have to hAve that crazy-eyed smirk in every photo ??
She looks so hard now. Not soft and feminine like she did many years ago.
This woman is an ego-maniac who only avoids the paps because she lost her looks and her body is nothing we’d want to see in pictures. I abhor it when celebrities talk up their current marriage and give advice even if asked, when obviously you’re not successful at it or you wouldn’t be divorced so many times. I don’t consider 11 years long enough to assume they’ll make it forever and I don’t beleive for one moment that they make out every day. That’s stupid, especially considering there’s been rumors for the last couple of years that their marriage is not strong. Get over yourself and stop lying! You just make it that much worse for yourself when things don’t work out. And for the love of God, please start working out and get your butt back up where it’s suppose to be (can’t tell from these pics, but other recent ones, serious flap-a$$).
OMG, those lips. When did they get so cray cray?