‘I ENJOY HAVING NO PRESSURE'

Dame Julie Walters on the perks of growing older and why the pandemic has brought her the opportunity to re-evaluate her life

- ROBYN MORRIS

Dame Julie Walters has had a tough few years by anyone’s standards. In 2018, she was diagnosed with stage-3 bowel cancer – though she only made this public knowledge earlier this year.

Thankfully, the much-loved actor fought the deadly disease successfully, but the experience, coupled with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, has given her a new perspective. For Julie, life is now all about taking time for herself and her family, and easing up when it comes to work. She describes the life transition as ‘getting off the merry-go-round’. ‘That’s what I did in terms of work,’ she said. ‘Work was not what I needed.’ Nowadays, Julie, 70, is embracing the ageing process at home on her farm in the English countryside...

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

Julie has been an acting star for decades, starring in the two Mamma Mia! movies and Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV, as well as many other film, TV and stage productions. Now she’s starring in a new adaptation of The Secret Garden. But this could be her last film.