Over the last seven decades of her career, Julie Andrews has continued to steal the hearts of people around the globe with her touching performances in classic films such as Mary Poppins (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), The Princess Diaries (2001) and Enchanted (2007).

But, many fans of the star might not know that when she was just sixteen, Julie suffered through a tragic experience that molded her dreams for the future. Moreover, singing became her outlet to escape.

After being born in 1935 to a schoolteacher father and a pianist mother, Julie grew up in Surrey, England.

Just before World War II, though, her parents ultimately divorced– with her mother, Barbara, later marrying a professional singer, Ted.

In spite of the divorce, Julie did maintain a close relationship with her father. Still, she primarily lived with her mother and stepfather– who began giving her singing lessons.

And it was not until Julie published her memoir, Home Work: Memoir of My Hollywood Years, in 2019 that the seasoned actress and singer reflected on her tumultuous childhood life.

“My mother was terribly important to me, and I know how much I yearned for her in my youth. But I don’t think I truly trusted her,” she wrote.

Both Barbara and Ted reportedly struggled with alcoholism, creating a chaotic and unpredictable home life for young Julie.

Then, when she was only nine years old, she experienced something that forever changed her: Julie’s stepfather allegedly forced her to sleep in his bed next to him.

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“Something about it did not feel right to me at all,” she revealed in her memoir.

Julie detailed how the room was “uncomfortably quiet” before, all of a sudden, Ted urged her to get into bed with him. He reportedly said he would keep her warm.

Julie claims to have responded by telling her stepfather she was fine. Moreover, she was actually feeling a bit sleepy.

“‘No, no, come on, come on,’ he pressed. ‘Let’s have a cuddle.’ Very reluctantly, I climbed into bed and lay with my bad to him. ‘I’ll show you how I cuddle with Mummy,’ he said,’ Give me your feet,'” Julie recited the dialogue between her and her stepfather.

“He placed them between his legs, and I was accurately aware of his heaviness on my tiny limbs. I felt trapped and claustrophobic. Eventually, summoning my courage, I claimed that I was too hot and that I was going back to my own bed. To my relief and surprise, he let me go.”

Seven years later, though, when Julie was sixteen, Ted’s advances became more aggressive. She claims that one night, her stepfather drunkenly stumbled into her bedroom, said he needed to “teach her how to kiss properly,” and gave her a full kiss on the lips.

“It was a deep, moist kiss– a very unpleasant experience. Ten minutes later, he came back in. I was burrowed beneath the covers, facing the wall,” Julie detailed.

“He leaned over me and tried to kiss me again. I rolled nearer the wall and mumbled, ‘I’m really sleepy. Goodnight, now!'”

Shortly after that evening, Julie installed a bolt lock on her bedroom door in hopes of protecting herself from any other attempts.

And throughout her time living in her childhood home, she viewed her singing aspirations as both an escape from reality as well as a potential key to gaining her freedom.

Then, by the time Julie turned eighteen years old, all of her hard work had paid off. It was at that point that she earned a lead role in a Broadway show and was finally able to escape the confines of her childhood once and for all.

A few years later, at twenty-four, Julie went on to marry her husband, Tony Walton– a British costume and set designer. Soon afterward, she was also approached by Walt Disney with the opportunity to star in the hit film musical Mary Poppins.

When she received the offer, Julie was pregnant with her first child. Thankfully, though, Disney was happy to wait until she delivered her child to begin the film’s production– and boy, are we glad they did.

Mary Poppins was an immediate hit and became the highest-grossing film of 1964. Julie’s performance also won her an Oscar for Best Actress that year and solidified her as a household name.

She went on to star in countless films, appear on television, write books, and work with incredibly influential charities. Julie also went through a divorce with Tony and later remarried director Blake Edwards– with whom she adopted two daughters.

And after taking that step into adoptive motherhood, Julie decided to back away from the screen in order to be more present in her daughters’ lives.

“I wanted to be there. To make a proper protein breakfast for them before school in the morning. To go to parent-teacher interviews. It is important. I do admire women who manage to do both. I tried, and it is extremely difficult,” she said.

In recent years, though, Julie has gotten back into the film scene– lending her voice to major motion pictures and television series such as Despicable Me, Shrek, Aquaman, and Bridgerton.

And the honorary mother figure, whom several decades of children came to look up to, revealed that she still really enjoys being recognized by fans of all ages.

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