Julia Roberts Reflects on 'Selfish' Life as a Young Actress: 'I Was My Priority'

Julia Roberts in Harper's Bazaar UK
Harper's Bazaar UK/Alexi Lubormirski

The 49-year-old actress covers the November issue of 'Harper's Bazaar UK'

Julia Roberts turns 50 on Oct. 28, and is looking back at her decades-long career in film.

The gorgeous actress covers the November issue of Harper's Bazaar UK and recalls what she was like when first coming up in the entertainment industry. "I was my priority," Roberts admits. "[I was] a selfish little brat running around making films."

The Oscar winner also says that even when she was younger, she was selective with the roles she took.

"Remember why you're doing what you're doing. That's your anchor. Cultivate your taste and decision making. I didn't work for a couple of years in my 20s, because I was being offered scripts and thinking 'Is it me or is this all just crap?'" she notes. "I figured I could cover my rent and wait for something good. I'd been spoiled with some great jobs already, so I was like, 'Why do that part with that person, when I was just doing that part with these people!'"

Roberts gushes that what has changed her for the better is her relationship with husband Daniel Moder, who she refers to as "my person."

"When I think about what makes my life my life, and makes sense and just shine inside of me, it's him," she says. "Everything has come from that for me."

As for what it's like to work with Moder, a cinematographer, she confesses, "There's comfort there, but also terror, which is a good combination. Terror because the person I want to impress most is looking right at me."

While Roberts is focused on moving forward, she's also quite content with how far she's come. "There are great things I've accomplished and I'd be happy to accomplish more, of course, to impress my children and my husband," says the mother of two. "But you know what? I've been spoiled already."

In April, Roberts' Pretty Woman co-star, Richard Gere, spoke exclusively with ET about working on the 1990 film and his current relationship with his frequent onscreen love interest.

"[I still talk to her] all the time. I spoke to her three or four times a day," he said of Roberts. "I would call her right now."