Julia Roberts Exposes Toxicity of Social Media: ‘Devastating’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Six years ago, Julia Roberts shared what she learned about social media after she had a “devastating” experience after posting a picture with her niece, Emma Roberts.
“I posted a picture of my niece and I from one weekend morning. She slept over, and we got up, and we’re having tea and playing cards and having this beautiful morning. It was great. I felt great about it,” Roberts said in a voice clip shared by a social media influencer.
“And my sweet little niece reposted it a couple of days later and interesting things happened. The amount of people that felt absolutely required to talk about how terrible I looked in the picture,” she said.
SheThePeople reported, “The duo posed for the camera during a candid family moment. Julia and Emma were seen playing cards in simple clothing, with no makeup or harsh lighting.”
Roberts posted the photo shortly after she created her Instagram account in 2018. The photo’s comments were filled with hateful things.
“That I’m not aging well. That I look like a man. Why would I even post a picture like this when I look that terrible,” she said.
“People saying, ‘God, I didn’t even recognize her. This is what she looks like.’ And then the fights that break out within the comments where someone says, ‘You should be nice.’ ‘Why should I be nice? She looks terrible,” the PRETTY WOMAN actress said.
Even though she isn’t a stranger to criticism, the comments took their toll on her.
“I was amazed at what that made me feel. And I’m a 50-year-old woman, and I know who I am. And still, my feelings got hurt,” the now 56-year-old said.
“I was so hurt that people couldn’t see the point of it, the sweetness of it. The absolute shining joy of that photo. And I thought, God, what if I was 15,” she said.
She calls the online hate “devastating.”
“And it really made me see all the things about hearts and clicks and likes, and you realize there is something neurological about the whole system. It was fascinating to me and I think it taught me a lot about being a young person in today’s society,” she said.
Movieguide® previously reported how Roberts raised her children, who are now teenagers, without social media:
“I try to keep them off social media because I don’t really understand what they need that for right now,” she explained. “I have three young children so I’m 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.”