Julia Roberts is a world-famous actress,
a star of Hollywood romantic comedies and melodramas. During her acting career,
she has repeatedly won prestigious awards, and her fees are incredibly huge. How the owner
of Hollywood's most disarming smile achieved success and how she lives now, you will find out
from our video, which we made at your request. Julia Roberts: how Pretty Woman
lives and where she is now The future icon of romantic comedies was born
on October 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia. Julie Fiona was the third child in the family. She has
an older brother, Eric Roberts, and a sister, Lisa. They also chose acting as a profession. All
the offspring of the Roberts family were drawn to the big screen for a reason, their parents were
also people of art. The father of the family, Walter Grady Roberts, was simultaneously a seller
of water mattresses, an actor, and a writer. Julia's mother, Betty Lou, was a
parish secretary and part-time actress. Together they ran an acting school and
were in a difficult financial situation by the time they had baby Julia. Coincidentally,
the children of Martin Luther King attended their school. And it was he
who paid the hospital bill for Julia's mother in the maternity hospital as a sign of
gratitude for the attention to his children. In 1971, when Julia was 4 years
old, Betty Lou filed for divorce, and the following year, she moved into a new
house and married theater critic Michael Motes, with whom they had a daughter, Nancy. In 1983,
this marriage also broke up. Betty called her second marriage a big mistake since her husband
did not like her children from the first marriage and even used physical violence against them. As
an adult, Julia has never made her memories of a difficult childhood public out of respect for her
mother and stepsister. But the actress' brother, Eric, would later state that their stepfather was
a monster and turned their life into a nightmare. After the mother’s second divorce, the children
had to go to work to make money for a living. From the age of 13, Julia worked as a waitress
at a pizza place while studying at Griffin High School and Campbell College. The future
celebrity was fond of playing the clarinet, took part in a local beauty contest, but never won.
Classmates considered her ugly and bullied her for her tall height, big mouth, and thinness.
The actress is very critical of her appearance, despite the fact that she is constantly presented
in various ratings of the most beautiful women in the world. Roberts says she has grasshopper legs,
horse teeth, and straw for hair. With all this, she is opposed to plastic surgery and
doesn’t like makeup and flashy clothes. A big role in her acting career was played by her
brother Eric, whose success deeply impressed young Julia and she began to participate in amateur
productions. But initially, her dream was to be a veterinarian, as she loved animals very much.
After graduating from high school, Julia entered Georgia State University and moved to New York
with her sister to try herself out in filming. There she signed a contract with a modeling
agency and began attending acting courses. In addition, the young actress
began to train her pronunciation, since her southern accent was inappropriate
on the screen. Soon the girl abandoned acting courses because she didn't see any result
from them and began to attend auditions. By the way, when she joined the Actors Guild
of the USA, she had to change her birth name, Julie, to Julia, since another actress named
Julie Roberts was already registered there. The next step on the way to success was a
trip to Hollywood to move in with her brother, who had already achieved success in
the movies. It turned out that the American film industry didn’t need another
provincial actress with a specific smile, which became the first serious disappointment
for the young actress. In 1987, she managed to get only a small role in the TV series
"Crime Story" and the movie "Firehouse". At first, her brother helped her a lot and even
invited Julia for a small role of his character's sister in the action movie "Blood Red", which
was released 3 years after filming. But soon he got tired of babysitting his sister and declared
that it was time for her to take care of herself. Who knows, maybe if she hadn't got that kick
then, she wouldn't have been so successful. But young Julia then considered
this act as a betrayal and even stopped communicating with her brother.
Later, she took revenge on him by helping his ex-wife with a divorce lawsuit. Tabloids still
write that their relationship hasn’t recovered. After losing her main assistanton the big screen,
Julia continued to improve her acting skills by entering a dance studio and learning how to play
various instruments. Without the help of her brother, the actress starred in the TV show "Miami
Vice." In the movie "Satisfaction" Julia portrayed a girl playing in a rock band, and for this role,
she learned how to play drums and bass. On the set of the project, Julia met Liam Neeson, with whom
she started dating. Roberts was 19 at the time and Liam was 35. This union didn’t last long, the
couple broke up soon after moving in together since Julia declared that she wasn't ready
for family life and immediately moved out. In the same 1988, the actress was invited for
a role in the comedy "Mystic Pizza", for which she had to dye her brown hair black. For this
picture, the actress, who was gaining popularity, received 50 thousand dollars. And the next role
of Julia Roberts in the 1989 "Steel Magnolias" made both critics and viewers talk about her as
one of the most promising actresses in America. In this film, Julia played a minor, but memorable
role of a diabetic girl preparing for a wedding. The film became a blockbuster,
collecting $80 million in America. Roberts received $90,000 for her
performance, a Golden Globe Award, and an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting
Actress category. By the way, Julia met a new boyfriend on the set, Dylan McDermott, who
proposed to her, but the wedding never took place. In 1990, Julia took part in the movie
"Flatliners", which brought the actress 500 thousand dollars and a new lover, Kiefer
Sutherland, with whom she even got engaged. The actor was the reason for Julia's
breakup with her previous boyfriend. They were supposed to have the "wedding of the
year", but meanwhile, tabloids caught Julia with a close friend of Kiefer, Jason Patrick.
However, this wedding was not destined to happen since the girl broke off the engagement
three days before the ceremony, running away with the groom's friend to
Ireland, for which she was given the nickname "Runaway Bride", which she will confirm more
than once, abruptly ending relationships. In the same 1990, Julia Roberts starred in
many girls’ favorite movie "Pretty Woman". It’s one of the most famous romantic comedies,
which has become a classic. The original title of the film was "3 thousand dollars" because it
was the amount agreed upon by the main characters. And Vivian, played by Julia, was supposed to be
a drug addict and die of an overdose at the end of the film according to one scenario, or go to
Disneyland with a friend in an alternative ending. But the director remade all the dark
scenes and added a happy ending. During the preparation for filming, Julia spent a
lot of time with director Garry Marshall’s wife, who ran a free clinic on Hollywood Boulevard,
in order to learn how to behave like Vivian. It’s interesting that, during the filming
of an intimate scene with Richard Gere, the young actress was so nervous that
a vein popped out on her forehead. It was visible on camera, so the director and
Gere had to massage the actress' forehead. In the scene where Vivian watches old comedies,
they had to tickle Julia's heels to achieve genuine laughter from the actress. Julia's dog was
present at the shooting. It didn’t appreciate the romantic scene between Julia and Richard and
started barking, so the scene had to be reshot several times. The actors also had a very busy
schedule, and Roberts didn’t have time to eat. Eventually, she became ill and fainted. Then
Marshall helped her again, feeding the actress tuna. Another fun fact. On the "Pretty Woman"
poster, there’s only Julia’s head, and the body belongs to her understudy. Apparently,
Roberts had no time for shooting for posters. "Pretty Woman" was a huge success all
over the world, and although critics reacted somewhat cool to the picture, it earned
about $180 million only in the United States, bringing Roberts a second Oscar
nomination as Best Actress, and a second Golden Globe. The actress' earnings
for the movie amounted to 300 thousand dollars. Roberts' success made her a real movie star and
allowed her to increase the level of her fees. In 1991, the thriller "Sleeping with the Enemy"
was released, for which she was paid $1 million, which made 23-year-old Julia the youngest
actress to receive a seven-figure fee. In the same year, the film "Dying Young"
starring long-haired Julia was released, where her fee was $3 million, as well as the
fairy tale of Peter Pan "Hook", for which the actress was paid $7 million. Meanwhile,
she had a fleeting affair with James Foley. In the following years, the actress starred
in the movie "The Player" and the thriller "The Pelican Brief" that brought Roberts $8
million. The image of Darby Shaw was written specifically for Julia Roberts. She immediately
agreed to the role after reading the book. In the same 1993, Julia proposed to get
married to country singer Lyle Lovett after dating him for only a few weeks. There
was a wedding, but the couple lived together for only two years, and then peacefully
divorced on her own initiative. The actress' next project was a 1994 action movie
with elements of melodrama and comedy "I Love Trouble". Fun fact. The main character jokes about
Julia's character, Sabrina, saying that he liked the article where she portrayed a prostitute,
which was a reference to "Pretty Woman". In the next few years, Julia starred in the
films "Pret-a-Porter", "Something to Talk About", "Everyone Says I Love You", "Michael Collins"
and "Mary Reilly", which brought the actress $8.5 million. In 1996, Julia took part in the
famous and highly rated TV show "Friends", on the set of which she began an affair with
Matthew Perry. But the actor was using drugs, so they quickly broke up, since
it was unacceptable for Julia. Soon, Julia found love again; it was the actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, with whom she was going to star in “Shakespeare in Love”. They met several times
in London, but when the actor refused the role, their relationship ended. In those years,
the lovable actress had relationships with Ethan Hawke and her personal coach Pat
Manocchia, which also ended quickly. In 1997, two films were released at once, which
significantly enriched Julia Robert. It was "Conspiracy Theory" with a fee of $11 million
and the melodrama "My Best Friend's Wedding" which brought the actress $12 million. Julia
personally selected the actors for this movie, choosing Cameron Diaz and Dermot Mulroney. This
period was extremely successful for Roberts, whose movies certainly became box office, and
everyone wanted to get her for the main role. Soon, the actress found a new admirer, Benjamin
Bratt. As Julia admitted, she fell in love with the swarthy handsome man at first sight when
she saw him on the street. The couple had been together for 4 years, and the guy was even
given the nickname "Mr. Roberts" by the media. In 1998, the actress appeared in the TV series
"Murphy Brown" and the movie "Stepmom", and a year later, in an episode of "Law and Order". In
general, 1999 was rich in both fees and movies. The actress, along with Hugh Grant, starred
in the melodrama "Notting Hill", where she demonstrated her talent for improvisation. The
scene in which Anna, Julia’s character, chastises a noisy company of men in the restaurant, wasn't
from the script. An interesting coincidence. The fee for her character’s last picture is equal to
the amount paid to Julia for shooting in the film: $15 million. For this work, Julia
was nominated for a Golden Globe. Meanwhile, another film was released, in
which the actress allegedly played herself. It was "Runaway Bride." On the set, Julia
worked with director Garry Marshall again. Roberts used to entertain his grandchildren
with a "platypus face", which he liked so much that he used it in the frame of the film.
By the way, Julia agreed to the shooting on the condition that it would be a single film without
a sequel since she didn’t want to star in sequels. In 2000, "Erin Brockovich" was released,
which became a real triumph for Julia. It not only became a box office hit but also
brought the actress an Oscar, a BAFTA Award, and a third Golden Globe, as well as an Actors Guild
Award. The fee amounted to an unprecedented amount at that time – $20 million, making Roberts the
first actress to cross this milestone. By the way, Julia is left-handed, but her character is not,
so the actress had some difficulties on the set, for example, with signing papers. The actress
appeared at the Oscars ceremony wearing one of the most expensive dresses to have ever been worn
at this event, which cost her almost $100 million. The following year, on the set of “The Mexican”,
Julia met her current husband, Daniel Moder, a cinematographer who was married at that
moment. Julia was paid $5 million for the movie. Next, "Ocean's Eleven" came out
with a payout of 10 million, and "America's Sweethearts", in which Julia
refused the main role in favor of a minor one, but it did not prevent her
from earning 15 million. In 2002, Moder and Roberts got married,
which came as a surprise to everyone. It was even rumored that Roberts paid
an impressive sum to Daniel's ex-wife so that she would agree to speed up the divorce.
Very little is known about the wedding ceremony: Julia was wearing a pink cotton dress, and
Moder was wearing a shirt with a frill collar. Later, the actress admitted that she and Danny
made matching tattoos with each other's initials shortly before the wedding, but the letters
are located where no one will see them. Later, the couple settled in a luxurious mansion
in Malibu with a tennis court for 9.5 million. In that year, Julia starred in the
films "Full Frontal", "Grand Champion" and George Clooney's directorial debut
"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", in which the actress agreed to play for friendship’s
sake for a symbolic 250 thousand dollars. The next film, released in 2003, brought
the actress as much as $ 25 million, it was the drama "Mona Lisa Smile". This
was followed by the sequel "Ocean's Twelve", which made Roberts richer by 5 million. By
the way, during the filming, the actress was pregnant with twins. Next, came the movie
"Closer", with a payout of $ 20 million. In the same year, Julia gave birth
to a boy, Finneas Walter, and a girl, Hazel Patricia. The actress was warned by doctors
that due to poor blood clotting, there was a high risk of death during childbirth, which came
prematurely, but, fortunately, it turned out fine. In 2006, Roberts made a deal with the famous
designer Gianfranco Ferre and starred in his advertisement for a new collection of sunglasses.
For it, the actress was paid $ 5 million. After a short break in 2006, Julia
voiced the cartoons "Charlotte's Web" and "Ant Bully". This was followed
by the movies "Charlie Wilson's War", for which the actress was nominated for a
Golden Globe, and "Fireflies in the Garden", which was directed by Julia's husband Daniel.
In this film, Julia played the mother of Ryan Reynolds' character, although in real life she
is only 9 years older than her on-screen son. But the on-screen pregnancy was real, and soon the
family had a younger son, Henry. But the actress didn't rest for long again and already in 2009 she
was in business, starring in the film "Duplicity" for $ 15 million, and a year later in "Valentine's
Day", which brought another 3 million. In the same year, another bestseller was released
- the biographical drama "Eat, pray, love". Roberts bought the rights to the film adaptation
of the novel of the same name herself and played the main role there. By the way, after filming in
an interview, the actress admitted that she is a Hindu, like her husband, and they periodically
visit Hindu temples with the whole family. In the same year, an advertising video of
the Lavazza coffee brand was released with the participation of Julia. For the role without
words in the 45-second video, the actress was paid 1.35 million dollars. At the same time, Roberts
was announced as the face of the Lancome brand. The actress was offered a unique contract for the
company: 5 years of cooperation and $ 50 million. The following year, the actress
voiced the romantic comedy "Love, Wedding, Marriage" and starred in the
film with Tom Hanks "Larry Crowne", and in 2012 she played the Evil Queen in
the family fantasy movie "Mirror Mirror". At first, Roberts, as she said in an interview,
was a thousand percent against this film and considered starring in it a terrible idea,
but after meeting with the director, she changed her mind. The actress said that her costumes
were very heavy and made it difficult to move, and she even pulled a muscle by turning too
quickly, and filming had to be suspended. Moreover, the actress's children were hiding under
voluminous ball gowns, but still between takes Julia decided to take them away so that they would
not hear her character's speech and would not be afraid. The children, although were interested,
didn't watch that film, so that they would not find the character of their mother unpleasant.
By the way, the transformation of Roberts into an old witch with a poisoned apple was kept in the
strictest secret until the release of the movie. At this time, a tragedy happened in the
actress' family: Julia's half-sister Nancy died. The cause of death was overdose on
medications, and a suicide note was found next to the body, in which Nancy told
about her relationship with her half-sister on three pages and accused Julia of driving
her to suicide. She blamed the beautiful sister for the fact that she had caused
mental trauma by bullying her over weight. In 2013, Julia joined the Gucci charity
program, in which she paid special attention to the problem of harmful smoke that is breathed
during cooking. The actress plans to replace bad cookers with working ones in poor areas
of Africa. A year later, Roberts became the face of Givenchy, presenting herself in
a new unusual image: strong and determined, without styling and almost without makeup.
By the way, the actress prefers to lie down when makeup is applied to her, as she believes
that this way the result looks more natural. In the next few years, the actress starred
in the films "August: Osage County", "The Normal Heart", "Secret in Their
Eyes", "Money Monster", "Mother's Day", the latter brought Julia $ 3 million, and the
family drama "Wonder" with a fee of $ 6 million. In 2018, the actress took part
in the TV series "Homecoming", for which she received another 600 thousand
dollars, and in the drama "Ben is Back". In 2019, Roberts became the face
of the Italian brand Calzedonia, and in 2020 Chopard released a promotional
video of Happy Sport watches starring Julia, in which she is carelessly
dancing and enjoying life. A few releases are expected in the following
years, the drama series "Gaslit" about the Watergate scandal, the romantic comedy
"Ticket to Paradise" and the drama "The Friday Night Knitting Club" based on the
book of the same name by Kate Jacobs. By the way, Julia is the most
famous knitter in Hollywood. She comes up with complex schemes and can knit
anything - from a scarf to a coat or a bag. At home, she has a whole workshop for different
types of needlework, and she carries yarn with her to sets so as not to
sit around in her free time. Interestingly enough, all the years that Julia
has been married to Danny, their marriage has been predicted to end soon. For example, in 2018,
the actress was not seen in the company of her husband for almost 9 months, but the paparazzi
still managed to catch a couple while walking on the beach, and after that the actress herself
shared cute family photos with subscribers. And last year, the couple celebrated the 19th
anniversary of their wedding. On this occasion, the actress shared a photo, which shows that
over the years the feelings have not weakened. Recently, the 54-year-old
actress has been acting less, and even said that due to her life experience,
she will no longer act in romantic films. She spends a lot of time with her loved ones on a
ranch in New Mexico with a house with an area of 8000 square feet. Julia has a small farm where
she raises chickens, and she has only organic vegetables and fruits on her table, since the
star also manages the vegetable garden herself and even knows how to drive a tractor. The
celebrity emphasizes that her family comes first. And she tries to protect her children from
journalists as much as possible. This year the twins turned 17, and only in honor of this,
happy parents shared rare pictures of children. Nowadays, Julia Roberts' fortune is 250 million
dollars, and she earns from 20 to 30 million dollars a year from films and advertising. The
actress is rumored to have insured her famous smile for as much as 30 million. The actress
prefers to invest money in real estate. At various times, she purchased several houses in
Hawaii: she sold one of them with a 50% discount for $ 16.2 million, the other - with a view of
the Pacific Ocean - also sold for 17 million. Another snow-white penthouse, which Roberts
decided to say goodbye to, is located in Manhattan, with an area of 6500 sq. ft with
a view of New York, was sold for 4.5 million. Julia also has a house in Malibu, which
she rents out for $10.5 thousand a month. Inside, the walls and ceilings of wood are painted
white, which along with the large windows creates a sense of space. And the actress sold another
house in a cozy ranch style for $ 8 million. In 2020, the actress purchased a
five-story house in San Francisco, built in 1907 and renovated. The
mansion has 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, an office, a modern kitchen, a dining
room and several places to relax. And a few years ago, Julia bought a
house with a skate park for her children next door to their main mansion in Malibu. The celebrity also owns a Mercedes GL320
CDI and a Toyota Prius. And last year, an announcement appeared in Kazakhstan about
the sale of a 33-year-old Rolls-Royce that used to belong to the actress. The
fact of owning a car by Julia Roberts increased the price of the car to as much as
$ 7 million, although it costs no more than 2. Now Julia's popularity, as
well as the amount of fees, is not waning. She is still in demand,
although she does not try to act too often. Do you like the "Pretty Woman" Julia Roberts?
