Australia’s favourite funny lady, Julia Morris, has a revealing chat with Jenny Brown about the freedom she’s found at 50, the importance of raising two strong girls, and the personal encounter with sexual harassment that left her speechless.
“How weird is that? Someone did something to me and I didn’t say anything,” marvels Australia’s favourite funny woman, who has spent more than 30 years reducing hecklers to red-faced shame on the stand-up circuit.
“I didn’t call him on it … I got such a fright that I kind of thought, you know, if I tell [husband] Dan, I don’t want him to feel like he has to rise to protect me or absolutely blow the night apart. But I was fascinated that I didn’t say anything until we got home.
“I sort of felt like it was more grown-up just to go, ‘Do you know what? That guy’s a f***wit and he will never ever get to spend any more time with me.’ The fact that he’s like that is his own life punishment, because he’s going to come badly undone.”
Nowadays Julia, who turned 50 earlier his year, sometimes does feel quite grown-up. At the very least, she’s a fizzing Catherine wheel of a work in progress, juggling a juggernaut career with a loving 13-year marriage and motherhood to two growing girls, 12-year-old Sophie and Ruby, aged 10.
“Happy ever after,” she chuckles contentedly, settling down for a chat about achieving her half-century in the notoriously ageist TV industry. “I wish I was 50 sooner. I think 50 is the secret window into happiness if you can get through the ‘I’m not young anymore’ bit.”
Finally, she has come through menopause and, thanks to cognitive behavioural therapy and clinical Pilates, emerged calmer and happier on the other side. “I started to see a psychologist and it changed my life. Oh my God! Who knew?”
This story is from the December 2018 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the December 2018 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Where to go in 2024
Who doesn't love fantasising about their next trip? We've gone for lesser-known locations, and whether you're seeking bright lights, striking natural scenery, serenity or excitement, here's where you're sure to find it.
Money matters with Effie
Didn’t reach your financial goals in 2023? While a new year won’t wipe away pressures like rising costs, there are a few things you can do now to refresh your money mojo in 2024.
Bright stars in a rugged land
The hot, dusty opal fields around Lightning Ridge in outback NSW have traditionally been a man's world. Now The Weekly meets the women who have been struck by opal fever.
The gift of life
Maureen Elliott had just months to live when she went on St Vincent's Hospital's transplant list. Thirty years on she's one of the longest living heart-lung transplant recipients in the world.
An uncaged heart
After more than two years in Iranian jails, Kylie Moore-Gilbert has forged a new life that's brimming with love, and a determination to help others who have been wrongfully imprisoned.
The woman behind The King
As Sofia Coppola's biopic Priscilla readies to hit screens, we look back at the early life and great love of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley.
Say hello to the Cockatoo cake
When we put a call-out to our readers for their best children's cakes we were inundated with recipes, and this clever cockatoo was ahead of the flock.
The French revolution
Dawn French quit her sketch show because she felt so ugly. Now the \"roly-poly comedian\" wants us all to stop fretting about our faults. She talks body image, surviving the 1980s and owning her mistakes.
Trump's women
Will it be the jailhouse or the White House for Donald Trump this year? The women in his life could make all the difference.
Can you buy a good night's sleep?
Forty per cent of Australians have trouble sleeping, and the market has responded with a mind-boggling array of sleep aids. But do any of them actually work? The Weekly goes in search of slumber.