Julia Roberts on Fame: There's 'Express Elevator or Rehab'
Julia Roberts knows how to play the fame game rather well and has earned the respect of Hollywood stars and people around the world. Now she offers her own take on the price of fame and fortune that today's celebrities face.
"I was encouraged - as all young actresses are - you know, 'You've got to keep going; you've got to get out there,'" she tells Vanity Fair. "It's too bad that young actors coming up now will never get that kind of experience. The business is so different; you can never be that new girl that has that moment of 'Where'd she come from?' Those gradual steps that you get to take."
Roberts was only 21 when she achieved critical success in "Mystic Pizza." Until then she had only had bit parts in films and on TV. She received her first Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe win for her role in "Steel Magnolias" the following year.
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In 1990, she starred in the very successful "Pretty Woman," which made her a household name. And while Roberts built her career very strategically, and with a little bit of luck, many today don't have the same opportunities. When it comes to fame, Roberts says, "There's the express elevator and there's rehab. It's so awful; nobody gets a fair trial-and-error period that everybody deserves and everybody needs."
Roberts has taken some time off in order to raise her children: 7-year-old twins Hazel and Finn and 4-year-old Henry. She tells Vanity Fair that her kids help keep her in line when it comes to ego and fame. "Somebody said as we were walking past, 'Oh that's Julia Roberts.' We all just kind of kept going, and then Finn said, 'Yeah, my mom's Julia Robinson.'"
"That's what gives you perspective," she adds. "It could be Robinson, it could be Johnson, because it has nothing to do with me as a person." While she is highly sought-after in Hollywood, Roberts remains rooted in family and her marriage to Danny Moder.
Roberts will next appear in an adaptation of Snow White called "Mirror, Mirror," which premieres March 16.
