Julia Roberts is a religious convert, said Will Blythe in Elle. “I’m definitely a practicing Hindu,” says Roberts. “It’s something I’m very intrigued by and very interested in.” Born in Georgia, to a Catholic mother and a Baptist father, she discovered the Hindu faith as an adult, partly as a result of visiting India. “I appreciate Catholicism, but the quietness of it, the silent reverence, is not who I am. The Baptist idea—the expressive appreciation for the gathering, the community—that I sort of get. A lot of what I’ve discovered as an adult at Hindu temple brings these things together.”
She’s particularly drawn to the Hindu notion of reincarnation, and says she’s recalled at least one of her own past lives as “a peasant revolutionary.” She also senses the presence of an older soul in her daughter when she sits in a certain way. “It’s an honor for me to continue to shepherd that. I don’t know who it is, but it’s part of my duty.” As for her own next life, Roberts wants no part of fame or celebrity. “I’ve been so spoiled in this life,” she says. “Next time I want to be just something quiet and supporting.”
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