Dame Julie Andrews made a rare appearance over the weekend to lend her iconic voice to a cause close to her heart.
The 90-year-old appeared in a video to kick off the annual World Parkinson’s Congress conference and admitted that she knows how “devastating” the disease can be.
“Good evening, everyone, I’m Julie Andrews, and I’m pleased to welcome you to the seventh World Parkinson’s Congress,” she began in the clip, shared on YouTube by the World Parkinson Coalition.
“Your participation is invaluable as we seek to find a cure to this terrible disease,” she continued. “I know well how devastating it can be.”
She concluded: “May we all become a beacon of light to stop it in its tracks. Count me in as a red thread. Thank you.”
The Mary Poppins star looked well in the clip, sitting in a white chair by a window, wearing a cozy gray sweatshirt over a white turtleneck and accessorizing with gold earrings and a long gold necklace.
Her appearance marked a rare return to the spotlight, but the legendary actress is still going strong in her 70-plus-year career.
Beloved for her roles in The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, and The Princess Diaries, the screen legend most recently delighted audiences once more as Lady Whistledown in Netflix’s Bridgerton – and at 90, she’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Now, the Oscar-winning icon is turning the page once again. Following her work on Bridgerton, Julie announced that a new children’s book is on the way, which she has worked on with her eldest daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, 63.
Ahead of the release of Bridgerton season four, Julie and Emma announced a new children’s book titled Shy, which drops on August 11 in the US and Canada.
The news was shared on Julie’s official Instagram account alongside an image of the illustrated cover. The caption read: “We are delighted to announce that Julie and Emma’s next picture book, SHY, illustrated by Eva Byrne and inspired by Julie’s own “singing” dog, is now available for pre-sale! – Team Julie.”
This is far from the first time the mother and daughter have teamed up. Together, they have created several children’s books, including The Very Fairy Princess series, Waiting in the Wings and Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies.
Alongside her writing career, Emma has also worked on screen with her mother in projects such as That’s Life! and Julie’s Greenroom. She has also served as artistic co-director and director of education and programming at New York’s Bay Street Theater.
© Getty ImagesWhile Julie is famous for playing warm, maternal figures on screen in films like The Princess Diaries and Mary Poppins, she is also a mother of five in real life.
She shares her eldest daughter, Emma, with set designer Tony Walton, to whom she was married from 1959 until their divorce in 1968.
© Getty ImagesIn 1969, Julie married director Blake Edwards, who had two children, Jennifer and Geoffrey, from a previous marriage. The couple later adopted two daughters, Amy and Joanna, who were born in Vietnam.
Julie and Blake were married for more than 40 years until his death from pneumonia in 2010, with Julie by his side.
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