Julia Roberts Ditches Her Signature Color for a 'Magical' New Look
On July 16, a new side of Julia Roberts was revealed in the trailer for her upcoming film, After the Hunt. It’s something fans haven’t seen from the 57-year-old actress in quite some time.
Roberts plays a college professor who finds herself involved in a campus scandal when a student (Ayo Edebiri) accuses her co-worker (Andrew Garfield) of “crossing the line” with her. A serious film often requires a dramatic transformation, and that’s exactly what the Oscar winner is delivering.
In place of her usual long, auburn locks, Roberts opted for a blonde bob styled in a side part with old Hollywood waves, and according to People, it’s all her natural hair. Many actresses, including Nicole Kidman, opt to wear wigs onscreen to protect their hair from the daily heat styling. There’s no optimal route to take when it comes to hairstyling; it’s just a personal preference.
Roberts understands that her signature curly locks that first graced the screen in Pretty Woman in 1990 are a favorite amongst her fans, so she doesn’t get offended when some people offer their opinions on her haircut.
“If someone sees me in a grocery store and they say, ‘Why did you cut your hair like that?’ it’s not because they’re trying to be rude. It’s because they feel they know me that I sit behind them in church every Sunday. It’s that sense of feeling that you understand someone that you don’t know,” she told British Vogue in February 2024. “I guess looking relatively like myself in most parts takes me out of the character-actor lane. But I never feel like I’m playing myself.”
She’s also loyal to her longtime hairstylist Serge Normant, who described her hair as “iconic” to Refinery29 in 2020.
“The magic of Julia’s hair is that people catch a feeling from it. They look at a picture of her—whether it’s bright blonde and sleek or messy and held up with a claw clip—and there’s something that people identify with,” he said. “It’s her glow, and it’s infectious. You might love her blonde and think that the color is amazing, but then the next day she could be back to red, and you forget about the blonde. She’s magical that way.”
Before you go, click here to see the most dramatic celebrity hair transformations.