Did you know that Julia Roberts is Lancôme’s “global ambassador”? Yeah, I think I read that a while ago and had forgotten it. How weird is that? I mean, I used to think Julia was really lovely. She’s still a very striking woman, but the past few years something has been off. I think she got her eyes done, and the last time she was on Oprah, she looked like she had just been majorly “refreshed”. I’m sure that her fans will think I’m a hater or whatever (she does pluck my last nerve, so they have a point), but I’m honestly not trying to be nasty – I honestly think she’s had work done to her face. Which, having that opinion, made me laugh when I read Julia’s statements to Women’s Wear Daily (full article here, and be careful, it’s quite a lot of Julia) about how her beautifying rituals came to “a screeching halt” when she became a mom:

On becoming Lancome’s global ambassador: “I think I have to stand up straighter and wash my face more. It’s kind of like every girl’s dream, really. To be 42 and have three kids and be a working mom, it’s a great moment to be asked to do this and to be able to do it. I think it says a lot about Lancôme and what they stand for.”

Julia on how this lets her have a “voice”: “[Youcef Nabi, Lancome‘s president] and I had such an immediate rapport the first time we met,” she said. “You really want to have a relationship where you don’t just want to be the face of something. You want to participate in it, and you want to have a voice in it. I still have to be myself.”

On sitting next to Paul McCartney at the Globes: As soon as Sir Paul McCartney sat down at the table next to Roberts, her phone began chiming. “It was so embarrassing,” she said. “It just started going ‘ding, ding.’” Roberts said people sent her messages like, “OMG I can’t believe you’re sitting next to Paul McCartney.”

On her next starring role, in Eat, Pray, Love: “It was quite a huge undertaking. It was a little bit daunting, dragging three little kids around the world, but well worth it,” said Roberts, referring to her three children, the oldest of whom are five-year-old twins.

On playing the main character, a woman struggling after her divorce: “I think that she just showed so much courage and humor. I just felt an incredible sense of need to accomplish the task on a great level. Ryan Murphy, who adapted the screenplay and was our director, was incredible. It was really like the acting Olympics. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a full-time acting job. I am really glad that I made the decision to go off and do that movie. I hope that Liz [Gilbert] really likes it more than anything. She’s a really interesting woman. I’m pretty fascinated by her, and I think a lot of people relate to her. So that’s the greatest challenge [with] a book that’s so well-known: You want people to see the movie and have that same sense of interest and comfort that they got from reading the book.”

On not wanting to meet Eat, Pray, Love’s author Elizabeth Gilbert: “I didn’t want to be overly influenced. She’s such an incandescent personality. I’ve seen her on television, and I’ve heard her on the radio and so I thought, ‘OK, I have to be objective.’ I wanted to at least start the movie before I met her. We were a few weeks into filming when I met her and her husband, and she was exactly what I wanted her to be.”

On her other movie, Valentine’s Day: “This movie is just about people loving each other and missing out and getting it right, and it’s pretty incredible.”

Picking her favorite movie (that she‘s acted in): “[It] is like picking your favorite friend; it’s impossible,” she said. “There are different reasons to love them. Obviously, ‘Pretty Woman’ had a profound effect on my life, so I have an incredible affection for that movie. ‘Pelican Brief’ was another really profound moment for me and my relationship with Alan Pakula is a treasure. ‘Erin Brockovich’ for obvious reasons and then just my own personal reason is so incredible. I met my husband while making ‘The Mexican.’”

On how the industry has changed: “There’s just news and fodder and gossip just sort of churned out every second of the day, so in that regard, it’s gotten a little less interesting,” she said. “Things aren’t allowed to take their time and to blossom and to happen the way they used to. I think it’s so much harder to really start out now than it was when I started.”

On the perks of working for Lancome: “I get all these things to play with and test and give my opinion about. And it’s quite exciting without having to invest all of myself in how I look because they did come to me as me, which is a pretty casual mom. But you know, it’s nice to up your game a little bit.”

On her beauty regimen: When asked how having children has changed her beauty regimen, Roberts said, “It kind of comes to a screeching halt. At a certain point in the future, I’ll pick it back up again. I think the nice thing about getting older is it forces you in a way to take a greater interest in your [beauty] regime. And so it’s a good moment for me to join forces with people who can help me.”

[From Women’s Wear Daily]

WWD also says that though the official number hasn’t been publicized, Julia is probably getting something like $10-15 million for this contract. So, if you want to look like Julia, buy Lancome. It also made me laugh when Julia described Elizabeth Gilbert as “an incandescent personality”. I’ve seen Gilbert in interviews (try this video of her giving a speech) and she seems really boring and full of herself. Methinks Julia wants to be seen as an “incandescent personality” too, especially since she’s playing Gilbert.

Julia Roberts at the Globes, on January 17, 2010. Credit: WENN.