“The older you get, the more fragile you understand life to be. I think that’s good motivation for getting out of bed joyfully each day.” — Julia Roberts
Those words land because Julia Roberts has had the years to mean them. The Georgia-born actress celebrates her birthday on October 28, and her career now spans more than 3 decades, from her breakthrough roles in Mystic Pizza and Steel Magnolias to Pretty Woman opposite Richard Gere in 1990. She later won the Best Actress Oscar for playing environmental activist Erin Brockovich in the 2000 film.
What gives the line its weight is the idea that comes with age as a reason to show up. The more you understand how easily life can slip, the more there is to get out of bed for.
Roberts has also spoken about the contentment she’s found in family life. She’s married to cinematographer Daniel Moder, and they have 3 children: twins Hazel and Phinnaeus and their younger son, Henry.
It’s that fullness, on screen and at home, that makes the line read less like a tidy motto and more like something earned. Fragility isn’t a reason to brace for loss in her telling; it’s the thing that makes an ordinary morning worth meeting with joy.