Despite being an A-grade actress, Julia Roberts manages to balance her work and her children in a seemingly effortless way.
From Pretty Woman to Eat Pray Love, Julia Roberts has had us hooked to the screens as she makes her appearance. But as much as she's a movie star to us, she's not one in her own home, says director Peter Hedges to Us Weekly.
The Academy Award-winning actress is a mother of three beautiful children with cinematographer hubby, Daniel Moder — 14-year-old twins Phinnaeus and Hazel and son, Henry, 11. And as she works hard to make her family function as normal as possible, she is a self-proclaimed "strict mom".
“I’m a strict mom, I don’t really lose my temper, but I think it’s important that children know their boundaries," she said about raising kids and being a part of Hollywood, according to Fox News. "If something happens I don’t really punish them, I prefer to have conversations with them. I think my serious face is punishment enough."
And Peter Hedges agrees. “She’s firm, but in a way that a mother needs to be,” Peter told Us Weekly. “When I look back at my parenting I think I was a little too soft and too easy. I think they understand that she’s in charge but there’s so much respect. She listens to them in such a deep and meaningful way that it feels healthy and really balanced.”
However, there are certain rules that she will not compromise on. Social media, for example. In an interview with The Sun, the 51-year-old admitted she's "very careful about turning the TV on."
“It’s interesting trying to raise kids in this day because it’s all so new — the pressures, the resources, having the world in your hand like that," Julia added. “I try to keep them off social media because I don’t really understand what they need that for right now.” This comes especially after she took on the role of a mother to a junkie in her film, Ben is Back. “If you apply all the many nightmares that any parent could have in this world, you would lock the doors and never leave the house. You have to concentrate on the world’s positive, optimistic things."
And being a full-time actress and a full-time mother, she has no desire to hurry and add “director” to her resumé anytime soon, a usual progression for an actor of her caliber. “I would just never want to be that person,” Julia says of the position to People. “I get everybody out the door to school on time, clean, fed, happy. That’s directing a whole production right there.”
That's not all there is to her parenting, however. Part of creating a normal family with the right balance is by making her kids do regular chores like making their beds and doing laundry because those are "important life skills." “Wanting to keep our family intact is something my husband and I . . . it’s always been a priority. For two people in show business, it’s amazing. We’ve only worked at the same time, separately, once," she said, according to Fox News.
So with her husband of 16 years and three children, Julia Roberts' way of parenting is a lot more relatable to commoners. “I am so proud that she can be in the public eye for 30 years and build such a beautiful home and make such a loving family,” Peter Hedges raved on Us Weekly. “I was in the home too many days and too long and I can smell a family that’s broken, that’s all I write! They are so happy and there’s so much health and love. It was so exciting for me to experience.”
References:
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-moms/news/director-peter-hedges-julia-roberts-is-a-firm-mom/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/8705336/julia-roberts-strict-parenting-interview/
https://people.com/parents/julia-roberts-talks-kids-danny-moder-secret-in-their-eyes/
