What Roberts hates about fame

If Julia Roberts had it all to do over, she would choose another profession, she tells Jane Sarkin and Krista Smith in Vanity Fair. Roberts, 40, still enjoys what she calls “the silly job” of acting, but says that the boom in gossip and celebrity journalism has taken all the fun out of being rich and famous. “It’s just grotesque,” she says. “It’s like a circus sideshow. I don’t know why anybody would want to go into show business these days. I see what’s happening to Britney Spears and it’s all I can do not to move her into my guesthouse.” Having paparazzi trail you whenever you step out of your front door—or aiming telephoto lenses at your windows—is exhausting, she says. “It’s so demeaning the way they behave, and I hate the fact that I even put any of my energy into thinking about it or being stressed about it.” She’s particularly irked when photographers target her three children. Recently, a cameraman ran after Roberts as she walked along with her newborn in a sling around her chest. “I get pissed off, because I think it’s inhuman to chase a woman with her children. Why can’t we get on board with this? We’re all the same. Some have cooler jobs, some have longer legs, but we’re all the same. We’re all orbiting the same sun.”

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