Content Advisory: This article discusses Parkinson’s disease, illness, and grief related to family loss. Reader discretion is advised.
Julie Andrews made a rare public appearance over the weekend for a cause she described as deeply personal.
The 90-year-old screen legend appeared in a video message to open the seventh World Parkinson’s Congress, lending her famous voice to the global effort to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease.
“Good evening, everyone, I’m Julie Andrews, and I’m pleased to welcome you to the seventh World Parkinson’s Congress,” she said in the clip shared by the World Parkinson Coalition.
Andrews then made clear that the cause was close to her heart.
“Your participation is invaluable as we seek to find a cure to this terrible disease,” she said. “I know well how devastating it can be.”
Julie Andrews Lends Voice To Parkinson’s Cause
Andrews appeared calm and warm in the video, sitting in a white chair beside a window. She wore a cozy gray sweatshirt over a white turtleneck and added gold earrings with a long gold necklace.
The ‘Mary Poppins’ star closed her message with a hopeful call to action. “May we all become a beacon of light to stop it in its tracks,” she said. “Count me in as a red thread.”
The appearance marked a rare return to the spotlight for Andrews, who has kept a lower public profile in recent years.
Julie Andrews Still Working At 90
Although Andrews rarely appears publicly now, her career remains active after more than seven decades in entertainment.
She remains beloved for classic roles in ‘Mary Poppins’, ‘The Sound Of Music’, and ‘The Princess Diaries’. More recently, she found a new generation of fans as the voice of Lady Whistledown in Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’.
Andrews is also continuing her writing career. Ahead of ‘Bridgerton’ season four, she and her eldest daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, announced a new children’s book titled ‘Shy’. The book, illustrated by Eva Byrne, is set for release on August 11 in the U.S. and Canada. The project was inspired by Andrews’ own “singing” dog, according to a post on her official Instagram account.
Julie And Emma’s Creative Bond
‘Shy’ is not Andrews and Emma’s first collaboration.
The mother-daughter pair have worked together on several children’s books, including ‘The Very Fairy Princess’ series, ‘Waiting In The Wings’, and ‘Julie Andrews’ Collection Of Poems, Songs And Lullabies’.
Emma has also worked with her mother on screen projects including ‘That’s Life!’ and ‘Julie’s Greenroom’. She has served as artistic co-director and director of education and programming at New York’s Bay Street Theater.
Andrews shares Emma with set designer Tony Walton, to whom she was married from 1959 until their divorce in 1968.
In 1969, Andrews married director Blake Edwards, who had two children, Jennifer and Geoffrey, from a previous marriage. The couple later adopted daughters Amy and Joanna, who were born in Vietnam. Andrews and Edwards were married for more than 40 years until his death from pneumonia in 2010.
At 90, Andrews remains selective about public appearances. But when she does step forward, it is usually with purpose. This time, she used her voice for a cause she called devastating and a fight she clearly wants to help push forward.
