Julia Roberts has managed to maintain an impressive level of privacy over the years, despite her global fame, but occasionally shares snippets of her personal life on social media.
However, the award-winning actress has admitted to not being prepared for the level of negativity online these days, despite being used to people knowing who she is.
The star famously opened up about the negative impacts of social media in an interview with Oprah Winfrey for Harper’s Bazaar back in 2018, the year she got Instagram.
Now, her comments, which saw her admit she had been “hurt” by unkind remarks about her ageing appearance, have resurfaced online this week.
Comedian Ali Wentworth shared a reel on her Instagram account this week which featured Julia’s voiceover and a montage of photos of her over the years, including a picture of her and her niece, Emma Roberts, playing cards at the kitchen table.
At the time of the photo being posted by Emma in 2018, Julia was victim to trolls discussing her appearance, and Ali opened up the discussion on the negative side of social media by posting the video and reminding fans what had happened.
Alongside the clip, she wrote: “Thank you to the incredible @juliaroberts for being spot on about the corrosive nature of social media and its effect on younger generations. As a parent who did not grow up with it, it is the Wild West trying to figure out how to scaffold our children from the dark side of social media.”
© InstagramComments from fellow parents and followers included: “Good Lord I love her! She’s SPOT ON! This generation truly has no clue. The bullying has gotten out of control and I feel there’s a whole different kind of ‘meanness’ out there. Big reason I got off of Twitter. It has become a toxic breeding ground for bullies. God bless Julia for speaking up and speaking out.”
Another wrote: “Spot on! People seem to think they are so perfect and all too often miss the point. This picture makes me smile. There is nothing better than spending time with the ones you love. You can see and feel the love in this picture.”
A third added: “So much better to spread positivity than to be critical for no reason, since it obviously comes from their own unhappiness.”
Julia had sat down with Oprah to relay what had happened after the photo Emma shared online sparked such a reaction.
She said: “Something did happen recently on my niece Emma’s Instagram that I think taught me a lot about what it’s like being a young person in today’s society.
“One weekend morning Emma slept over, and we got up and were having tea and playing cards and having this beautiful morning, and then a couple of days later she posted a picture of us. And the number of people who felt absolutely required to talk about how terrible I looked in the picture — that I’m not aging well, that I look like a man, why would she even post a picture like this when I look that terrible!
© Getty Images“And I was amazed at how that made me feel. I’m a 50-year-old woman and I know who I am, and still my feelings got hurt. I was sad that people couldn’t see the point of it, the sweetness of it, the absolute shining joy of that photo. I thought, ‘What if I was 15?'”
She continued: “I was so happy that happened because I had this whole new glimpse into a way of living that I didn’t get at all. You have to go through things to understand them, and this was just a little paper cut of what can really go on with social media.
