Julie Andrews says her husband helped her avoid being sexually harassed in Hollywood
Sexual harassment accusations are foreign to Julie Andrews. The Oscar winning actress said she was never sexually harassed in Hollywood. She believes she avoided those kind of situations because she was married to filmmaker Blake Edwards.
Julie Andrews said she was never sexually harassed in Hollywood because men were scared of her husband.
The 84-year-old was married to filmmaker Blake Edwards from 1969 until his death in 2010 at age 88.
“I understand #MeToo very well,” the British star told Radio Times magazine for its latest issue. “It’s an important development and it should be recognized. A lot of things that were done in the old days were not done consciously, but they have to be changed today.”
“I was very fortunate I didn’t have any harassment in the business because, happily, I was married to Blake, who was highly respected and I don’t think people thought to bother with me,” Andrews continued. "I started working with him fairly early on, so I didn’t have any of that to deal with. That said, I’m all for equal pay and respect for women, all the things the #MeToo movement stands for, and I think it will eventually shake into newer respect for all the right things. It’s happening.”
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Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Variety previously reported Andrews’ film career began with “Mary Poppins” in 1964 after being passed over by film executive Jack Warner for Audrey Hepburn in the screen adaptation of “My Fair Lady.”
Andrews went on to earn an Academy Award for her portrayal of the magical nanny. She was nominated again the following year, in 1966, for “The Sound of Music” as Maria von Trapp.
She later found love with Edwards, the filmmaker behind Hepburn’s 1961 hit “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Together they raised five children.
“Blake was the most charismatic and interesting fellow you could possibly meet,” Andrews revealed at New York City’s 92nd Street Y, as reported by Variety. “He was hilariously funny and had such a dark sense of humor that just put me away that I loved so much.”
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US director Blake Edwards poses with his wife Julie Andrews, after receiving the Legion of Honor, on May 09, 1992 during the International Cannes Film Festival. (Photo by MICHEL GANGNE/AFP/Getty Images)
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“But he was also, at times, a very depressive personality and had a very difficult time,” Andrews admitted. “I knew him very well, and he knew me very well — we were married for 41 years before he passed — but he did have horrible bouts of depression, and he wrote more and more biographically the longer our lives went on.”
Andrews still kept busy pursuing her passion for acting after Edwards’ passing. Andrews said she hopes fans will remember her for bringing “a certain joy or delight in music and all things.”
“I’m so lucky, really, to have been that lady who was able to do all those wonderful things,” she explained. “My mother used to say, ‘Don’t you dare pull rank. There are so many people who can do what you do just as well. Be grateful, get on with it.’ And she was right. And so, I hope that what I do gives joy and makes people curious, which is I think one of the best qualities you can have in life, to be curious about things. And maybe that kind of thing would be nice to have as a legacy.”
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