Middle Age Hollywood

THE trademark smile and enviable curves prove Julia Roberts is still every inch the pretty woman.

But the star, who was once the world's best-paid actress, commanding £17.5million a movie, reveals she piled on the pounds on the Italian sets of Eat, Pray, Love.


In the weight-obsessed world of showbiz, the temptations of calorie-loaded pizza and pasta while shooting scenes for the film put her in danger of being named a Hollywood heavyweight for all the wrong reasons.


Julia admitted: "I've always been a friend of food. I probably put on about seven pounds in Rome when we were shooting. I ate a lot of pizzas in Naples. It was just great. But it was hard on take 10 on a giant plate of pasta.


"It is a challenge and I love a good meal. Someone suggested I had a spit bucket but I can't do that because it makes me gag. It just grosses me out."


The Oscar-winning actress, who is forever associated with her 1990 classic Pretty Woman, has resolutely refused to buy in to the pressure so many stars put themselves under to become a size zero.

In fact, it's refreshing when Julia reveals it's easier to survive the whirlwind of premieres, parties and photo shoots if you actually eat normally.


She said: "That is a strange thing that happens. People get wildly famous and they get incredibly slim.

"I don't know. It never happened to me. I look the same. I guess that is my staying power. My fighting weight."