America's Sweetheart Is Back! Why Julia Shunned Hollywood

Sh’es Out Of Hiding And Happy Again

When Julia Roberts emerged from the wings at the Oscars last month, jaws dropped.

As she strode on stage clutching the best-picture envelope she was about to open, a trail of pink couture billowing behind her, Hollywood’s A-list were in raptures.

Looking impossibly youthful, a beaming Julia (51) announced that her return to the spotlight was complete in the most, well, Julia Roberts way possible – with a stunning frock and that big, beautiful smile.

America’s sweetheart has been quiet in the past few years. She’s shunned Tinseltown for a discreet life in New Mexico and Malibu, and her acting roles have been few and far between, perhaps just one or two projects a year. She’d be forgiven for simply calling it a day on work, given that her net worth is more than $200 million, but the reason for her absence from public life was more complex – it was for the sake of her marriage.

Rumours have swirled since she and her cinematographer husband Danny Moder married 17 years ago, after meeting the year before on the movie The Mexican.

At the time, Julia was one of the biggest stars on the planet and was starring in the rom-com opposite Brad Pitt. Danny, meanwhile, was a camera operator – and he was still married to his first wife, make-up artist Vera Steimberg, which created salacious tabloid headlines for years, particularly as a furious Vera ensured their divorce proceedings dragged on for more than two years.

As a young man, Los Angeles-born Danny initially shunned showbiz, instead earning a degree in psychology. But the bright lights soon came calling and he got his first big break in 1995 as a production assistant on Crimson Tide, with

Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman, before working his way up the ranks.