Throughout much of her career, Julia Roberts has been one of the most famous women in the world.
During the ’80s and ’90s, she dominated magazine covers and red carpets, thanks to her brilliant acting talent, natural charm and megawatt smile.
While she’s now 21 years married to American cinematographer Daniel Moder, Roberts has had a list of A-lister boyfriends, fiancés and even a husband in the past.
Roberts, who now rarely speaks publicly about her longtime husband despite her string of high-profile romances in the past, only recently gave fans a small glimpse into her love life behind closed doors.
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Speaking on TODAY in the US, Roberts lifted the lid on her marriage and gushed about Moder being her “anchor”.
Below we take you through everyone the Pretty Woman actress dated before she found her true love.
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Liam Neeson
At just 19, Roberts featured in her first-ever film called Satisfaction, alongside Taken actor Liam Neeson.
The year was 1987, and although the film wasn’t quite a box office hit, it proved a hit for Roberts and Neeson’s love life.
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The pair reportedly dated from 1987 to 1988, with some even claiming they moved in together while living in Venice, California.
The pair eventually called it quits, and never gave public interviews about their time together. Except for one.
Nearly a decade later, when they co-starred again, in Michael Collins, Neeson told The Irish Times:
“There was an ease between myself and Julia on the set, a real ease. She was dying to do the film. Ironically, she first heard about Michael Collins from me, 10 years ago.”
Dylan McDermott
By May 1988, Roberts was dating The Practice star, Dylan McDermott. The pair played love interests in Steel Magnolias, which they filmed that same year, with Roberts playing the bride-to-be Shelby Eatenton and McDermott playing her groom, Jackson Latcherie.
The pair reportedly dated for about two years and were even secretly engaged before Roberts ended things completely.
Kiefer Sutherland
Two years later, Roberts was single and heading into a slightly different role for her – but she was also due to enter one of the most chaotic periods in her love life.
The actress took the role of Dr Rachel Manus in the sci-fi thriller Flatliners, starring alongside Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt and of course, Kiefer Sutherland.
At the time of their romance, Sutherland was newly divorced from actress Camelia Kath. After just one year together, Sutherland and Roberts were engaged and set to be married.
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The big day was set for June 14, 1991, and had plenty of media attention behind it. As People opened an article published July 1, 1991, “It was going to be the fantasy wedding of the decade”.
The million-dollar ceremony was set to be celebrated at 20th Century Fox’s Soundstage 14, which had been styled and transformed into a gardenlike paradise. Roberts’ bridesmaids were set to dress up in emerald green gowns and Manolo Blahniks, and there was a four-tier cake in the shape of a turkey, waiting to be baked.
All seemed to be going so well, until three days before the event, the entire thing was called off. It seemed Roberts had pulled a Runaway Bride act before she’d even starred in the movie.
On the day, a publicist for each of the couples released a joint statement announcing that the wedding was off – for now.
“It has been mutually agreed upon that the wedding has been postponed,” the joint statement read. But nonetheless, rumours flew that it was Roberts who had called it off.
A source reportedly close to the actress told People at the time: “It was Julia who called the wedding off. She has wanted to do it for some time but didn’t know if she could find the courage.”
While some might have thought the decision crazy, but fair – people change their minds at the altar all the time, right? – a single photo changed everything for the pair.
When the couple’s official wedding day rolled around three days later, Roberts was snapped enjoying lunch with Sutherland’s childhood best friend, actor Jason Patric.
The pair had starred in the 1987 horror-slash-comedy film, The Lost Boys together.
As the story goes, Roberts and Patric then fled to Ireland, with the starlet desperate for some peace and quiet away from the chaos of LA.
Yet Patric has denied he ever took off with Roberts – and confirms he never “stole” her away from Sutherland.
In a November interview with Entertainment Weekly that year, Roberts reflected on the situation, revealing that she wished her former partner would be a little more generous towards her.
“I quite honestly believe that Kiefer knows that it’s the best thing for himself and for me that it didn’t happen,” she said.
“But he shouldn’t try to make himself look better by taking shots at me. Somehow or another, it turned into Kiefer being left at the altar. Well, I just don’t understand that, quite frankly.”
15 years later, Sutherland decided to finally show some support for Roberts’ decision, even admitting that she saved them.
“I commend Julia for seeing how young and silly we were, even at the last minute, even as painful and as difficult as it was. Thank God she saw it,” he told Rolling Stone
Lyle Lovett
When the year 1992 came round the corner, Roberts was due to feature in Robert Altman’s film The Player alongside country music star Lyle Lovett.
No one had ever picked that the pair would hit things off, but the actress revealed she felt incredibly drawn to Lovett.
“I had a very strong reaction to meeting him,” Roberts told Barbara Walters in 1993. “Different to the way I’ve ever reacted to any person on the planet… He’s perfect.”
If the world was surprised by their romance, they were even more surprised to hear that by June 25 of that same year, they were married.
In a July interview with People, the couple revealed that they made their vows in a small Indiana town, and spent only 72 hours planning the event.
Sadly, the romance near fell to pieces after relentless speculation from the media about cheating and infidelity. The pair also struggled to spend time together thanks to their hectic schedules – Roberts as the in-demand Hollywood actress that she was, and Lovett with his tour dates.
After nearly two years together, the couple announced their separation in 1995 by sharing a joint statement that read, “We remain close and in great support of one another.”
Benjamin Bratt
Then in 1997, Roberts met Law & Order star Benjamin Bratt.
In a 1999 interview with Vanity Fair, Roberts recalled the first time she met him.
“He walked in, and I looked up at him, and it was like something hit me over the head with a bat,” she said.
The pair weren’t afraid to be snapped together, and regularly made it on the pages of magazines frequenting New York eateries and walking red carpets together.
The actor was incredibly adoring of Roberts too, which fans loved.
“All that I have to say about Julia couldn’t possibly fit into one or two sentences,” Bratt once told People. “She’s an incredible woman.”
By June 2001, the pair had gone their separate ways.
Danny Moder
In 2000, Roberts’ life changed forever when she met handsome cinematographer Danny Moder.
While Roberts fell head over heels for Moder, the prospect of them turning into anything was zilch – at the time, Moder was married to makeup artist Vera Steimberg.
But by 2002, Moder had filed for divorce from Steimberg and was set to marry Roberts.
On July 4 the pair married in a top-secret ceremony held at Roberts’ ranch in Taos, New Mexico.
By 2004 the pair welcomed their twins Phinnaeus and Hazel, who are now 17. In 2007 they welcomed their son Henry, who is now 15.
In December 2003, Roberts addressed the widespread accusations that she had brought an unwelcome end to Moder’s marriage to Steimberg.
Speaking to Oprah Magazine she insisted she wasn’t to blame.
“He sorted his whole thing out, separate and apart from me,” she said. “And I sorted my life out, separate and apart from him. I think that’s the only reason we were able to ultimately fall in love with each other and be together.”
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The actress has said, in rare comments about her marriage recently, that her husband holds her family together. While on the Today show, she explained, “It all starts with Danny Moder, you know?”
“He’s just really our anchor and our person,” she added. “And in the most beautiful way, [he’s] the captain of our ship. Truly.”
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“[I’m] not, like, giving it all away,” she continued. “It’s just that for me, understanding how deeply felt life could be, really started with him.”
Though we don’t know much about the intricacies of this notoriously private couple, in 2022, on CBS This Morning, the actress described their relationship as a “Dream come true”.
“When I’m not working, [being a homemaker] is my full-time job. It isn’t rainbows and kittens every day, but it does bring me a lot of joy.
The life that I have built with my husband, [and] the life that we’ve built with our children, that’s the best stuff. To come home at the end of the day, triumphantly, to them.”
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