Julia Roberts opened up about struggling with insecurity in the early days of her acting career.
Roberts, who has become one of the most famous actors in Hollywood history, admitted she struggled with self-confidence when she first started working in front of the camera.
The 57-year-old admitted she did not begin pursuing her dreams ‘with much confidence’ as she spoke with People in an interview published on Wednesday.
‘It was so much more about who I wanted to be as opposed to what kind of career I wanted to have,’ she shared.
‘I encountered early on, not a lot but a few critical people who were really cruel, and it was a really interesting challenge for me to decide the kind of person I wanted to strive to be,’ she admitted.
‘I don’t think I entered into my career with much confidence,’ she said in a joint sit-down chat with her After the Hunt co-star Ayo Edebiri.
This comes after Roberts — who rose to fame after starring in the 1990 rom-com Pretty Woman and took home an Academy Award for her Erin Brockovich biopic in 2000 — claimed ‘Hollywood is still super-male’ dominated and revealed how she has battled the industry during her 35-year career.
Julia Roberts opened up about struggling with insecurity in the early days of her acting career
Roberts said she experienced ‘more bumps than smooth sailing’ during her teenage years and early 20s.
‘Of course, even then, I would have shreds of gratitude,’ said the star.
‘I would think, “Okay, there’s a reason why it has to be so hard.” Now I look at it as some of the lessons that I’m the most grateful for because they proved my endurance to myself.
‘Being insecure, it can be crippling,’ Roberts added. ‘So if someone embarrassed me, it stopped me.
‘I was apoplectic, so learning to navigate that — because this is not an industry to be in if you can’t take criticism or harshness or being embarrassed.’
She also told a childhood story about how she once stayed up late to watch a trumpeter perform for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.
‘Johnny calls him over to the chair,’ she recalled.
Roberts, who has become one of the most famous actors in Hollywood history and an Oscar winner at age 57, admitted she struggled with self-confidence when she first started acting; pictured in 1990 Pretty Woman movie still
She admitted she did not begin pursuing her dreams ‘with much confidence’ in an interview with People published on Wednesday. ‘It was so much more about who I wanted to be as opposed to what kind of career I wanted to have,’ she confessed; pictured alongside Richard Gere in 1990 Pretty Woman movie still
‘I don’t think I entered into my career with much confidence,’ she said in a joint sit-down chat with her After the Hunt co-star Ayo Edebiri; pictured from left to right: Ayo Edebiri, Julia Roberts and their After the Hunt director Luca Guadagnino
Roberts said she experienced ‘more bumps than smooth sailing’ during her teenage years and early 20s. She said the insecurity she felt back then was ‘crippling’; pictured in 2000 Erin Brockovich movie still
‘He puts his instrument down and he starts to walk over and he trips and falls on the stage.’
She continued: ‘And me, sitting in the safety of my own home, minding my own business, was … It might as well have happened to me.
‘I felt it,’ she added. ‘What did I know? But I had a lot of things I needed to overcome for myself.’
While reflecting on her decades-spanning career and her varied experience with working in multiple genres and acclaimed directors, she explained she often chose certain projects based on ‘personal evolution and discovery.’
After the Hunt premieres in select theaters on Friday, October 10 and will be released everywhere else on October 17.
