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On the Season 2 finale of Wiser Than Me, Julia sits at the feet of 88-year-old Academy Award-winning icon Julie Andrews. Acclaimed for her enduring roles in “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music,” Julie brings a depth of wisdom from a lifetime in the spotlight. The pair discuss the restorative feeling of being in nature, their favorite curse words, and Julie’s 60-year friendship with Carol Burnett. Plus, Julia and her 90-year-old mom, Judy, talk about a life-changing health scare in Judy’s past and how it helped her find her creative voice.

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Julie Andrews, Mommy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  00:00

I am a hiker, I’m somebody who likes to get out on a trail and the hills and the mountains are along the beach just out in nature. It’s an activity that brings me an enormous amount of solace of joy, peace of mind, hiking can really change my mindset. In fact, as I’m seeing this, I realize, I’ve really got to get out there right now and move which I’m going to do right after we record. There is something about walking and looking at the natural world and feeling and smelling the world around me. Smells are important to me too, my memories are really full of smells for real. Where I live in California, we have seasons, believe it or not, they’re subtle, but we do have seasons that change and the smells in the air from the trees and all the shrubbery, the Chaparral changes from season to season from month to month. And I love that. The Pittosporum the Ceanothus, the Jasmine that blooms at night. I mean, one night, you can’t smell it at all, and then the next night, it’s almost dizzyingly sweet. The orange blossoms, which just are California, to me, the eucalyptus and the boxwood, oh, well, I can’t smell boxwood without thinking of my dad, my dear dad, these smells, you know, they wax and wane from month to month from year to year, but they’re also wonderful. And I find that if I’m having a hard time, or if I’m anxious, or if I’m trying to figure something out, to get out of my head, and to free up my brain, I really need to move in the outdoors. This, to a certain extent has always been true for me. But as I’ve gotten older, it’s only become more and more true. My favorite thing to do is to go on a hiking trip, we did that last year with family and friends, we went to the Dolomites in Italy, and we hiked 1000s of vertical feet and many, many miles a day. And it was super hard, and it was as good as it gets. And another benefit of being out walking or hiking in the natural world beyond the self searching and meditative stuff, is that it is a great opportunity for conversation. Conversation can flow in a way that it just might not otherwise. I think maybe that’s because you’re both looking forward, and you’re not looking at each other, that it sort of allows a kind of openness, and maybe a deeper form of honesty, the ritual of walking, and breathing at a pace together is just conducive to a more intimate conversation. And, in fact, it wasn’t a hike with my college roommate and dearest friend, Paula, that we first discussed the idea for this very podcast, and how to do it, and what it might be like and how it would be devised and who it would be fun to talk to. And where do we get the microphones from? And what button is record, you know, all of this. And now look, here we are, we’re finishing up our second season of being inspired and roused by all these mind blowing old ladies. I mean, seriously, who woulda thunk it? Something happens moving through the natural world, something deep rooted. They say that mountains are nature’s cathedral and and I do think that’s true. You know, maybe the hills really are alive with the sound of music or with something otherworldly, something sacred and what divined, Mary Oliver has so many great poems about moving through nature and this is one called Why I Wake Early. Hello sun in my face. Hello, you who make the morning and spread it over the fields and into the faces of the tulips and the notting morning glories and into the windows of even the miserable and crotchety best preacher that ever was dear star. That just happens to be where you are in the universe to keep us from ever darkness to ease us with warm touching to hold us in the great hands of light. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Watch now how I start the day in happiness in kindness. Boy, that Mary Oliver I’ll tell you. Yeah, the hills really are alive. How fitting then, that for the last episode of this season, we get to talk to Julie Andrews.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  04:43

Hi, I’m Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and this is Wiser Than Me, the podcast where I get schooled by women who are wiser than me.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  05:06

I was just four years old when the sound of music premiered in 1965. And for those of you listening who were not alive in the 60s, we didn’t have Netflix or Disney plus, or Max or whatever. We didn’t even have DVDs or VHS, which meant that if you wanted to watch a movie, you actually had to go to see it in the theaters. Well, lucky for me, The Sound of Music was basically always playing when I was growing up, which meant I got to go to the theater and see it as much as I wanted to, which was a lot. I simply couldn’t get enough. I’ve seen it more than I’ve seen any other movie. I mean, I’ve seen it dozens of times. I saw it last week, for God’s sakes. Most people have to think really hard for a minute to come up with their favorite movie, but not me. Sound of Music, that’s it, and it’s been since I can remember. Why do I love it so much? Well, for starters, that was the soundtrack of my childhood. So yeah, it is a little hard for me to believe today’s conversation is even happening because today we get to talk to the woman behind that incredible voice and performance, I mean, are we lucky or what? Actually, are we lucky or what is the motto our guests lives by. According to her daughter. She’ll even say it under the worst of circumstances like in the middle of a thunderstorm when the power goes out. But a whole lot more than luck has shaped this glorious woman’s incomparable career. She’s been working professionally since she was just 10 years old, performing in a vaudeville act with her family singing all over England even performing at age 13, for King George the sixth and the future Queen Elizabeth. She originated the leading roles in the Broadway productions of my fair lady and Camelot, the latter of which put her in front of the eyes of Walt Disney himself, who cast her in the iconic role of Mary Poppins. And off she went to do all these other incredible films. SOB, Victor Victoria, the Americanization of Emily, and of course, there’s The Sound of Music. And lucky for us, she’s still working today. She’s a prolific author who’s written dozens of children’s books with her daughter Emma, and continues to star in some of the most beloved family films in history like Princess Diaries and Shrek. You’ll even hear her voice as Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton on Netflix, so I am a little overcome that today I’ll be talking to the Academy Award winning Emmy winning, Grammy winning, BAFTA winning, songstress herself, a true English rose, the star of my favorite movie, a woman who is so much wiser than me, Dame Julie Andrews, hi, Julie.

 

Julie Andrews  07:57

Hello, my dear. How are you?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  08:00

So good. I’m so good.

 

Julie Andrews  08:02

I’m very happy to meet you, my dear.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  08:05

Oh, I’m so happy to meet you, too.

 

Julie Andrews  08:07

I’ve never had as good an introduction as that, thank you so much, Julia. A Saloni, a name that is actually my name, too. I was born and christened Julia. And it was changed to Julie when my mother remarried. Ted Andrews and Julia Andrews didn’t roll off the tongue as well as Julie.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  08:29

Yes.

 

Julie Andrews  08:30

So they changed it. And I didn’t know much about it at the time.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  08:33

But do people call you Julia, ever?

 

Julie Andrews  08:36

No, only maybe great aunts and people like that?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  08:40

Yes.

 

Julie Andrews  08:41

Mostly, no, I’m Julia and have been for a long, long time.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  08:44

Well, it suits you.

 

Julie Andrews  08:46

Are you at home?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  08:47

I am at home.

 

Julie Andrews  08:48

And where is where is that?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  08:50

I’m in Santa Barbara, California.

 

Julie Andrews  08:52

Oh, no. Then you know my children, Carol very well.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  08:55

Yes, you know, my chum, Carol very well, we’ve become friends. As a matter of fact.

 

Julie Andrews  09:01

She’s adorable. And it’s such a great friend.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  09:03

Oh, well, we’ll talk about that. So Julie, are you comfortable if I ask your real age?

 

Julie Andrews  09:11

Yeah, I don’t mind at all. I’m I am, I believe 88.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  09:15

And how old do you feel?

 

Julie Andrews  09:17

Well, I probably feel like in my 50s honest to God, as long as the brain holds out, I’m doing okay. You know, and I don’t feel bad at all now.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  09:26

Well, what do you think is the best part of being your age, Julie?

 

Julie Andrews  09:31

I don’t know. There are times when it’s a nuisance. And I want to do well, I want to do more and I want to exercise more and all of those things. But with the accompanying sort of aches and pains. I bitched a lot about it and when I actually the best part is, to a certain extent people leave me alone and that I rather like because otherwise, but I mean, I’m being slightly facetious.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  09:58

That’s fine, you can just let it all hang out.

 

Julie Andrews  10:00

I love it. Thank you.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  10:03

But wait a minute, when you say they leave you alone, what does that actually in fact mean? Because of your age? What does that mean?

 

Julie Andrews  10:10

Who is because I don’t do as much I don’t go out as much. And I love being home. And so life is quieter these days. But I kind of enjoyed that. Pulling back a little bit now. And I of course, I’ve got a million thoughts and ideas and hope that I can keep going for great belongia. But who knows. And I’m, I’m just pleased that I’ve arrived here.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  10:34

Oh, I’m so pleased you’ve arrived here too, you know, the, the the, when we’re putting together a wish list to have these conversations with various people, you are absolutely at the top of that wish list. So I want to take a breath and say thank you again for being here today because I admired you my entire life.

 

Julie Andrews  10:55

Well, I’m thrilled to have been asked Julia and it’s a lovely medium to be on. And to see your face and you’re seeing mine and yet. Here we are in a privately in our homes.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  11:08

Yes, exactly.

 

Julie Andrews  11:09

Yeah, are we lucky or?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  11:12

That’s exactly right. No, listen, I was so pleased Julie to discover that you love cursing your cursor. Am I right?

 

Julie Andrews  11:21

Yeah.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  11:22

You’re very body free. And I honestly, I myself. I mean, I feel to a certain extent that I’ve kind of built half of my career on that. And I even cursed once in front of Elmo on Sesame Street back in the day. Do you have a favorite curse word?

 

Julie Andrews  11:42

No, not really. I mean, I’m an average everyday. This isn’t a couple of them. S H I T’s pop in, but more. Oh God, what a favorite curse word, my mother had a beautiful curse word because she was she was much Bordier and alive than I was or am. But because of the times and because she was raised as they say in cockney. She was brung up proper. She was say people bummed drawers, meaning knickers. So P obviously, polo, meaning the commode and bomb being your backside and drawers being your knickers. So it resonated. I don’t say it. I just remember it vividly. And I would laugh all the ways.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  12:30

That’s hilarious. And what’s particularly funny is that it seems so benign to me than it does to me, right?

 

Julie Andrews  12:36

Yeah, but I mean, I’m not I don’t go into it much. I don’t think I curse as much as everybody else thinks I do. And maybe because it’s Mary Poppins, uttering whatever I asked her and I go at it whenever I need gems. But I think that’s a surprise, really.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  12:54

Yes, I think so because you played so many as so called good girl characters.

 

Julie Andrews  13:00

What’s your go to word Julia?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  13:02

Well, come on, Julie. It’s fuck.

 

Julie Andrews  13:04

Yeah, well, I do have some of this mostly, I guess mostly shit isn’t with me.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  13:10

You’re not that bad. You’re not like me.

 

Julie Andrews  13:12

No it’s not.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  13:13

I know, it’s true. I’m very bad. And you know, I did a show called Veep. And there was a lot it was very scary show. But you know, of course, the Brits use certain words that Americans are taken aback by you know, the ones. So I won’t, I think I won’t utter those words today. But I you know, the ones I’m talking about for female anatomy. And I, it really became a part of my vocabulary after a couple of years in their presence.

 

Julie Andrews  13:44

I have to say, well, that’s very useful sometimes. I really do think yeah.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  13:47

Yeah, I think it is, too. But you know, it’s funny that you say that, I think that maybe you just utter shit. And people are probably, maybe it takes their breath away. Because of course, the characters you play were very sort of Pollyanna types to certain girls. Exactly, in what ways do you think that good girl image has served you or has gotten in your way? If you were gonna say?

 

Julie Andrews  14:15

That’s a good question. I think, to the extent that I began to be typecast for my image, and it’s so far from the truth, I mean, I’m a much I know I’m a much more body broad as they used to say. Then Mary Poppins or whatever, but it it’s now of no consequence, because I’ve done enough that’s different.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  14:42

Yes, indeed.

 

Julie Andrews  14:42

And I think I think enough people know, that know me that it’s not that prim and proper, of course, no, of course, although my voice sometimes gets in the way or gives me away one of the two.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  14:56

Yeah, exactly, and I mean, are you a rebel? Are you are you? Are you a nonconformist? You Julie Andrews?

 

Julie Andrews  15:03

Oh, I hope so. I do, yeah. I am, I think but not to the extent I mean, as Eliza Doolittle used to say, oh, a good girl I am and I kind of know when to be a rebel and when not to be I like to be a family when working. I’m sure you do too. Julia is so lovely to have great collaborators and great people around you and all of that.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  15:28

And when you find them, you must cling to them, don’t you think?

 

Julie Andrews  15:31

I think so, yes, I do.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  15:32

Keep them in your orbit. Yes, for real.

 

Julie Andrews  15:35

Because it’s very, very good. And as you have pointed out on one or two podcasts, I think now that laughter is, yeah, obviously. So nominal, but it’s such a joy and it’s frees you up so much. And if you can be really healthily anything from body to laughing your head off or weeping with laughter, that’s where I land, I think.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  16:00

That’s the best possible place to be, isn’t it? It’s, I mean, all sorts of endorphins I think are released. I mean, it’s actually a physical reality that laughing is.

 

Julie Andrews  16:12

Is a release.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  16:13

It’s a release, and it’s good physically for the body.

 

Julie Andrews  16:16

It is good, and I think weeping too, is sometimes when the two get combined, it’s I get helpless. I mean, I laugh so hard, and I weep so much at the idiocy of what I’m hearing. But, really, but of course, I was married for 40s, three years to, Blake Edwards. And if you don’t laugh with that, man, then you better get out of the room. You know, he made me laugh so hard.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  16:44

I’m sure.

 

Julie Andrews  16:45

And I, I think that it’s partially what held our marriage together the great laughter.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  16:52

We’ll get more wisdom from Julie Andrews after this super quick break, stay tuned.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  17:09

Do you think that I want to talk about sort of the idea of not showing off and the idea of humility and being humble? Do you think that there’s an expectation of humility, that can impact a woman’s sort of ability to assert themselves or negotiate for themselves as it was that.

 

Julie Andrews  17:33

I’m not sure about that part of it? I think that my mum who was very much Bodia, and more live than eat than I seem to be. But she used to say, there’s always somebody around that can do it better than you. And so do do do good things and, and be grateful, because there are so many people that can that have talent, but don’t get the breaks. And that don’t. And that’s I think, where I land mostly. And it’s all a learning experience. I’m still learning.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  18:10

You know, I was interested that you said that you hid your Oscar for Mary Poppins in the attic for a while. And I was wondering, did you feel you didn’t deserve it?

 

Julie Andrews  18:24

Probably, yes. I think that’s true. I didn’t want to show off, I was very new to this lovely craft that we’re all in and in terms of movies and things. And also, I did have a hunch maybe, that perhaps, it was given in lieu of not getting the role of Eliza in the movie of my fair lady. And I had been passed up for that, and I understood it perfectly well, but of course, it made me sad that I couldn’t have a good crack at it on film, though. I’ve never done a movie before when I made Mary Poppins so thank goodness, we all saw something that was appropriate for Mary and I didn’t mind not doing my fair lady but but I wish I’d had a chance of some kind to put it down on record. I did do excerpts on television and on different shows. But it would have been fun and interesting to see what became of Eliza Doolittle when if I if I hadn’t been in the you know, my job was in the show for about three and a half years.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  19:36

Yeah, so you felt like to a certain extent you owned it. It was you you felt the character you were playing you gave your heart and soul to it.

 

Julie Andrews  19:43

Well, it took me a long time to get there. But I had a long time to get there. And yeah, it was something like that. But I really felt that in a way that the academy was generous enough to honor me for Poppins because in a way it was saying you should have got the other one was, something like that there was so much talk about it at the time. So I kind of hid the Oscar away, didn’t want to show off didn’t want to parade it in my office or anything like that.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  20:10

But I hope it’s out of the attic. Is it?

 

Julie Andrews  20:13

Oh, yeah, it is. Yes. I mean, I was absolutely thrilled. And my mother was terribly thrilled. But, um, I think I was very grateful to it. So beautiful beginning and I couldn’t have been more welcomed so.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  20:31

Your acceptance speech, by the way is divine.

 

Julie Andrews  20:33

Oh, you know how spoiler go. Yeah, right, and Americans do. I didn’t mean to say you Americans, but yeah, that’s right. But I felt that, they really do.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  20:46

So by the way, your memoir is so beautiful.

 

Julie Andrews  20:50

Oh, thank really […] on your own work, right?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  20:52

Yes, well, we take this seriously. I mean, you take the time to talk to us, we want to take the time to come at you with, you know, thoughtful stuff based on what you’ve done you. But in your memoir, you said something that struck me that I thought was interesting, you describe your childhood self as being bossy.

 

Julie Andrews  21:11

Oh, that’s easy.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  21:12

Tell me what ways were you bossy?

 

Julie Andrews  21:14

Well, I had three brothers, and I was the eldest child. So of course, they thought me bossy. And because my parents were in showbiz and traveled a lot and blown away a lot, I usually ended up being the, the head honcho in the family when they were away, because I was the eldest. And so I think bossy was a gift. I was given that name by then, probably more than anybody else. But yeah, I can be a bit bossy, but only yeah, we get a reputation for that. And yet, it’s only in search of something being as good as it possibly can. Not being boss, yeah, I’m sure you feel that way.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  21:55

I do, I think I’m probably very bossy, in fact, I’m sure but I’m sure that my husband would look very bossy.

 

Julie Andrews  22:02

I can be very tough. How long? Have you been married?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  22:05

I’ve been married for weight. 36 years? 37 actually coming up? Yeah so good, a quite a while.

 

Julie Andrews  22:16

Quite an achievement too.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  22:18

Yes, it is, yeah, it is. I’m proud although I also like, Oh, my God had so long, it’s like.

 

Julie Andrews  22:24

Yeah, but in a way you go through so many phases in a marriage.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  22:28

Or I’ll say, yeah.

 

Julie Andrews  22:29

You know, there’s physical love and adoration and admiration. And then there comes the, the kind of understanding love and then the tolerant love and the understanding of your mate more. And it just, there’s so many phases that one goes through I fear. I don’t know how Blake and I manage it, but we did. And I also admired him very much. And as I say he made me and anybody that does that is great in my book.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  22:58

Is a keeper. But Julie, you had a pretty chaotic upbringing with your family battling poverty and alcoholism.

 

Julie Andrews  23:06

Well, you have to remember Julia, I didn’t know anything else, it’s the what was what was handed to me. And it became, I became so incredibly fortunate, like, thank God for the gift of singing and the singing voice. I had a phenomenal teacher who was with me until she passed away. And I had such unbelievable help that I think age is about passing on teaching what you know, in a gentle way, or set. I don’t think it’s exactly setting an example but I’d love to and hope to do one of those podcasts that are in a class a masterclass. And I’m talking about that, because I thought in terms of performing, and particularly with lyrics, and using them well, and so on, there’s a number of wonderful ways to do that. And I’d love to pass that on to young singers who are very talented, but don’t have that extra bullet in their gun if you know what I’m saying.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  24:14

What is that extra bullet? Julie? Is it about absorbing the lyrics and acting them?

 

Julie Andrews  24:20

Well, every every song is that I mean, I can’t sing a song that doesn’t have good lyrics and that sounds very stupid. But for instance, and that remember this I don’t mean to put it down it’s a pretty melody, but remember feelings. Oh, whoa, feelings. Well, I couldn’t do that song. I wasn’t good at doing the whoa, whoa, is and things like that. I had to find a way to delve into the song and find out what it meant. And I once couldn’t sing a song. It was a blues song called come rain or come shine which I’m sure, um, which I adore. It’s Harold Arlen, and you know, I’m Love you like nobody’s love come rain or shine. And my tutor one day said, I said I, it’s not my kind of song I don’t sing sort of bluesy, or that kind of deep song. And she said, make it about the theater. Now think of the lyrics and oh my god, it changed my life. Oh, isn’t that wonderful author? And so, wow. I said, oh, and so you know, I’m gonna be true if you let me um, you know, come rain or come in or the we’re out of the money, but I’m with you always come. And I mean, it couldn’t be more appropriate to being in this wonderful business. And I know you’ll get exactly what I mean.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  25:45

I get that exactly what you mean.

 

Julie Andrews  25:49

And if you can find your way into a song, if it’s something else, but you make it to a song about how you feel about your husband, when he’s standing at the dresser after his shower, or something like that, it brings into it. If you make that if you take it on and adopt that attitude, it’s very, very helpful.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  26:08

Well, it’s, it’s an acting exercise is really what you’re describing, because.

 

Julie Andrews  26:12

It’s all about that. I’m big on lyrics, I’ve directed a few things which I was loved doing, and to see young people and talented people suddenly grasp that if you just emphasize that word, or or think about it, let’s go and do that again, and so on. It can be enormously helpful and was to me over the years, you know, it’s all learning and you never stop.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  26:39

Well, I’m jumping around here, because since we’re talking about lyrics, recently, just a couple days ago, I watched sound of music for the 3,000th time happily so. And I was so struck, because first of all, my favorite things, the lyrics for that tune.

 

Julie Andrews  27:01

A great, aren’t they?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  27:03

Yes, and what I was so struck by was the lyrics are like a basis for a gratitude practice. Almost like yeah, cognitive behavioral therapy. I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so bad, and.

 

Julie Andrews  27:22

But also picking your favorite things or remembering them?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  27:25

Yeah, identifying that, yes.

 

Julie Andrews  27:27

Mind you at when I did that. And I don’t mean to cop out. But that was my second movie. And so I didn’t know as much about it as I do now. And I wish that I’d known some of the things I know now.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  27:42

But except Julie, in that performance that you gave, I hear what you’re saying that perhaps you weren’t thinking of it quite like that, then, but you’re in your instinct. When you perform that song and how you absorbed it conveyed that regardless, it really did.

 

Julie Andrews  27:59

Our music director Saul Chaplin, a very lovely guy who worked hand in glove with Robert Wise, our director. He said, why don’t we try reciting the first two lines, you know, Raindrops on Roses, oh, and then the orchestra comes in. And I was so grateful to him because it was exactly what I thought should be done. But he said go with it. And the orchestrator went with it. And it sort of brought the song from dialogue into music and a lovely.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  28:33

Yes, it was seamless, absolutely seamless. And the same, by the way is true. Not to harp too much on this, but in The Sound of Music, the themes of nature, actually, the themes of nature throughout the entire film are.

 

Julie Andrews  28:47

That’s very much where Oscar Hammerstein was, I mean, he and all his songs have birds and nature brought into them. I mean, to be truthful. No, it’s not very, it’s churlish of me one of the lyrics that I couldn’t wrap my head around. The only one in the entire film was like a lark, who is learning to pray. And that was a list and so I rushed through it as quickly as I can and go down to the next line, or the next stanza. Because I don’t know how to say that.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  29:21

But let me ask you a question. Is that because it didn’t make sense too?

 

Julie Andrews  29:26

Yes, yeah because I thought it was a bit sort of, you know, artsy fartsy and but Oscar love to write like that and, and set the pattern for that and trained Sondheim and all those brilliant composers, and Sondheim ran with that, but just came up with such a stringent lyrics that he is, I think my almost one of my favorite lyricist. He is my favorite lyricist. Forget about it, he is yeah.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  29:54

He’s absolutely incredible. I think that is so amazing that that one phrase that I got stuck, you got stuck on it and you blew past it. And that’s good. And it’s about the natural world that tune. It’s about the value of being in nature. You know what the Japanese often call forest bathing again, sort of a practice today.

 

Julie Andrews  29:54

Really? I’ve never heard that.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  29:59

Yes, isn’t it marvelous? No.

 

Julie Andrews  30:06

That’s wonderful, yeah. I get it.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  30:25

This whole notion of being out in the wilderness, it’s a forest bath, and that we all must do it. That tune absolutely speaks to that. And I know that your life in the natural world, you have a huge bond with Switzerland, and.

 

Julie Andrews  30:45

I do and also my garden and what I put in my garden, and I can’t wait for Spring this year, because with all this rain, it’s going to look beautiful, my daffodils will come out and my bluebells will come out and I try to nothing like obsessive way. But I like to kind of plan a succession of things that I can look forward to blossoming and so on, love all that.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  31:09

Julie, we have that in common because I do the same. I have my daffodils are coming up now. My blue bell, yes and I have daffodils and Narcissus. And then when they […] out, my blue bells will come up.

 

Julie Andrews  31:24

And it’s a blue world. And when yes, lovely, I’m so pleased you I that’s so special. I’m glad we have that in common.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  31:31

What, uh, tell me about your life in Switzerland? How much time do you spend there? And what do you do when you’re there? I’m dying to know.

 

Julie Andrews  31:38

Well, Blake and I have had a chalet there all for six years, maybe now, just after we first met, we took a vacation with our kids, not just after, but you know, when we really be a team and beginning to be a family. And we fell in love with this beautiful place called […] in Switzerland. And the beauty of it is stunning. I mean, stunning. And you talk about wildflowers blooming and things like that. My dad was a great lover also of nature. And so my real dad that is, or the man I thought was my real dad. But he he taught me so much about tree he could out he could see the outline of a tree in winter and know what it was. And I could not do that. And I’ve been trying ever since. And can’t he’d say, well, that’s a lime tree, or that’s a such and such tree. But it didn’t have a blossom on it. You know?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  32:41

So you said the man that you thought was your real dad, so your real dad.

 

Julie Andrews  32:46

Oh, no, my mum when I was about 14 said to me, she we’d gone to some kind of event and a man sat and talked to me for quite a while. And obviously it had been planned. And on the way home. She said, did you like him? And I said, yeah, okay, I struck me as odd that he spent as much time on me at this odd party. And she said, well, he was your dad. In fact, Julie and I could feel this freight train coming at me. But in fact, it all worked out pretty well, because there was nothing I could do about it. And he always sent me a loving Christmas card but didn’t interfere at my request. Because I didn’t know whether the man I thought was my dad knew. After he passed away it transpires that he did and it didn’t make any difference. And I wish we he and I could have talked about it more. But I loved him so much for that he was a darling. And he was he absolutely was a country man. And the man I thought was my real dad. And I had vacations with him and all of that, because in truth, he was my dad, he raised me raised the man that I thought was my dad. Yeah. I mean, whenever I could see him I did.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  34:03

And what would that conversation had been like? Had you been able to talk to him? Do you think?

 

Julie Andrews  34:07

Well, I don’t know. I just know that. I think it would have made him an even more more understanding, on my part, even more love for him at once I found out my love knew no bounds because he was so generous, and had no compunction in taking me on and was so proud of me. And never, ever let me feel that I wasn’t his daughter. And since I didn’t know he was my dad, and he did raise. So truthfully, that’s where I arrived eventually. But the man that raised me, he was a lovely nature, man. And he too, would drive me to certain places in the country where the bluebells were rampant and, and, oddly enough like a lark who is learning to pray. He took me up a hill near where he used to live in Surrey, the county of Surrey in England, and he’s he said, one night I, he collected me from the theater, what we down to spend a weekend with him. And he said, I want to just hear something. And he got me out of the car at the crest of the hill, and said, and he took me to a five bar gate, a big country gate, and said, now listen, and nightingales all over that Southdowns was singing. And you can imagine how magical that was. And that’s the kind of nature man he he was. And he taught me, I think, my love of books, my love of writing, you know, 76, this man that I thought was my dad went back to college and got a degree in German at 76. I mean, he was an amazing man isn’t well, I got to do something. I got to use my brain. And he was loved and loved poetry.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  35:52

He got a degree in German, you said?

 

Julie Andrews  35:55

Speaking German.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  35:56

Speaking German, so he took on a new language at 76. That’s extraordinary. It’s extraordinary.

 

Julie Andrews  36:03

Yeah, that’s right.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  36:06

It’s time for a quick break, but don’t worry. There’s more with Julie Andrews and just a bit.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  36:23

So I wanted to talk about friendship. We had Carol Burnett on this podcast.

 

Julie Andrews  36:30

I heard her I heard her and I love her so much.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  36:33

Isn’t she divined?

 

Julie Andrews  36:34

Yes, she is an honest and real, and unbelievably talented. I mean, I admire her so much.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  36:40

I do too.

 

Julie Andrews  36:41

And she makes me better. And which is odd. She brings out the worst in me, the most bodied how made me I do not know why. But she does. And we lost a lot.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  36:53

But what is it about her that you connected with? When you when you first met?

 

Julie Andrews  36:57

We’re very similar in some ways. She had a grandma that raised her parents that were alcoholics as I did. And one way and another we, in our own countries, you know, I’m from England, she’s from here. We bonded tremendously. Straightaway, we it was as if two ladies discovered that they lived on the same block. And they hadn’t ever been introduced. But once they were, it was we bonded straightaway. And every 10 years, as you probably know, we managed to get a special made together. And each special, became first of all, it was like who are you dating? And you know, are you going to get married and so on. Then it was about parent teacher conferences and having to get pick up the kids from school. And then eventually, by the time of the third or whatever the outing that we had together on film or or tape, it was like, do you take Metamucil like that? And it and we don’t see each other as much as I wish we did because she’s on one end of the country. And now I’m out here on the East Coast. But it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter where we are, we just pick up where we left off is so easy as a.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  38:14

True friendship.

 

Julie Andrews  38:16

And the very first one we did together, which was Julian Carol, at Carnegie Hall, I’ll never forget that she was the one that gave me the strength and the courage. And we before we taped, which was twice we taped one big rehearsal and then the big night. And I remember we made an entrance she on one side of the stage. And I was on the other side. And we looked at each other across the stage. We were about to make that first entrance. And we were doing the thumbs up and blowing kisses. But it was because I could see her across from me. And I felt her strength. And I also knew she knew mine, and so.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  38:56

You had each other’s backs.

 

Julie Andrews  38:58

Yeah, who was there. And we weren’t looking for rank. And we weren’t going to be foolish, I hope well, foolish, and, of course, but yeah.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  39:05

And you must have met then doing theater in New York because she was probably doing what mattress or whatever?

 

Julie Andrews  39:12

Oh, well. Yes, it probably was. I met her during Camelot when I was there. And yes, she was, and I first of all, did, one of her shows which was the Garry Moore show that she.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  39:25

That was right.

 

Julie Andrews  39:25

And then she she did them Once Upon a Mattress. I happily was able to see that. Because her day off was, I guess my day off. And so my manager at the time said you two have to eat your adore each other, which is quite often the kiss of death as.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  39:45

Yes, they don’t know what they’re talking about, but in this case, it was a great good fortune.

 

Julie Andrews  39:50

Magical and nobody else could word in edgeways.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  39:53

And so you’ve stayed connected all these years. It’s quite remarkable.

 

Julie Andrews  39:56

All these years.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  39:57

I wonder, is there any advice you might have to give to people who are listening to this to younger people about cultivating and maintaining friendships, which I think personally are one of the big keys to longevity and wellness.

 

Julie Andrews  40:14

Well, why would anybody pull rank when your friends are so loyal and talented and smart? And how lovely that you can all bond and either work together or appreciate each other in some way? I don’t know. I just think it’s great. And all I just about love everybody that I have worked with, and actually can’t remember anybody that ticked me off in in such a way that I wasn’t happy. And that is such a good fortune, I think.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  40:45

Oh, yeah, it certainly is, bravo to both of you.

 

Julie Andrews  40:48

Thank you.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  40:49

It’s fabulous. Okay, so let’s, let’s switch gears for a second. I wanted to talk to you about your voice. You started having trouble with it in 1997. I think you had nodules on your vocal cords. Julie, is that right? How should I explain it?

 

Julie Andrews  41:06

No, it wasn’t that was what was so painful to comprehend. Eventually, it wasn’t that at all. How can I explain it well enough, when you if you hop on one knee long enough, and sounds stupid, when you hop on one leg long enough, that leg will buckle. And you will get a kind of striation in the limb. That is just a bit, it’s muscle, and oh, there’s another word I’m looking for.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  41:37

Like a stress fracture or a tear or.

 

Julie Andrews  41:39

Like tissues. that becomes a little bit more hardened, because you’ve been using it so much. But it did leave think of this, it did lead to my saying, I’ve got to lose, I mean, a year of waiting and depression and all those kinds of things. But it led to my finding a new life, which is the one was my daughter and writing, I thought I have to do something and be good for something or good at begin to be good at something. And that’s what came out of it, and I’ve gotten over it, I think I would have stopped singing pretty quickly anyway, because I was getting that much older. And I would have been 65 or something when I finally began writing with my Emma. And it’s been such a joy, this part of my life, this latter part of my life that I have gotten over it. It was a bad period, but and I you can imagine I adore music, and I love classical music and all of those things.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  42:41

But can you talk a little bit about the experience? I mean, you had surgery? And did you know after it that something had changed for you that something had had shifted for you?

 

Julie Andrews  42:51

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it wouldn’t recover, it wouldn’t recover for me. I eventually found an absolutely superb vehicle. Not coach, doctor, and he cleared anything up that he could, which is why I’m able to speak and I’m not worse. And I can’t sing now though that’s the thing. And I miss it very, very, very much.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  43:17

And so. So let’s talk about sort of the process of making the adjustment to this, Julie, because I think you know, a lot of people well, frankly, people have lost in their lives of varying degrees, right.

 

Julie Andrews  43:33

Or they do and fall lesson.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  43:35

Well, but but yours was a radical loss, I would say and you know, I had I had breast cancer diagnosis. I don’t seven years ago now. And I had to go through, that thank you, but I’m fine. But it was, again, it’s lot.

 

Julie Andrews  43:53

Huge, huge learning curve, I would think.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  43:57

Yeah, it’s it’s your body that you know, so fundamentally, and that you rely on so completely?

 

Julie Andrews  44:04

Yes, I understand that very, very well, I do.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  44:07

You understand it, and it’s really, there’s a shift that happens emotionally and intellectually.

 

Julie Andrews  44:15

Like, you know, what I learned is that I was still dually I couldn’t do that craft, and you’re, you’re you’ve discovered, look at the strengths you’ve had since then, and what the opportunities and so on. That wasn’t all that was Julia.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  44:32

Right, so what advice what would you say to those who are trying to you know get back up.

 

Julie Andrews  44:42

Get past something, yeah.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  44:43

What do you think?

 

Julie Andrews  44:47

I’m not very good at answering that question, because I don’t have it fully in my head. But I think it’s to do with find what you love. Keep doing something because women of my age I can keep being useful that’s really can keep giving pleasure. And I wish that I could find a voice again but I found it in my daughter, Emma, when I bemoaned my fate one day and was getting a bit teary. She said, mum, you’ve just found a different way to use your exactly. And that the penny dropped in my brain, and I became a lot more content. And now my whole focus is on communicating, teaching, writing, and helping the arts as much as I can and combining them in some way, which is lovely.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  45:44

Oh, yes, it’s lovely. So you met your second husband, Blake Edwards in the parking lot of your therapists office. Is that right?

 

Julie Andrews  45:53

No. But meeting him was on Sunset Boulevard. And I don’t you probably know that this that huge medium across sunset.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  46:02

Yes.

 

Julie Andrews  46:02

And you can go across that. And I had to park in the middle of the medium, because they had cars going both ways and cars zooming down Sunset Boulevard. So I pulled up and waited for the traffic to clear and the Rolls Royce on the other side pulled up. And I looked over and smiled at the very handsome man, not in any way, thinking anything, but just smiled because it happened again. And then it happened again. And finally, the windows the rolls, another day was wound down and Blake said hello, I’m […] you’re Julie, and I said yes, it was an honor and thrilled to meet you. He said are you coming? Are you going to where I just came from and that was analysis, my analysts. And so we got to talking and then not too many weeks later, I received a call and asked if he could come by he asked if he could come by and run by an idea that he had. And that was the first movie we ever made together that was finally made. And it was a flop.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  47:06

Was that darling Lilly?

 

Julie Andrews  47:07

That was donated a huge flop and how we ever stayed together after that? I don’t know. But we did, and then of course, eventually married several years later.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  47:16

Oh, that’s so lovely. What about him directing you? What was that? Like? Since you were, you know, first boyfriend and girlfriend and then a married couple?

 

Julie Andrews  47:25

I know.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  47:26

What about him direct? Did you like it? Did you like him as a director when he directed you?

 

Julie Andrews  47:31

Oh, I liked him very much, and I felt very, very safe. Because he was a he was a good director and didn’t waste time playing director. He knew his shots. He knew what he wanted, and was very knowledgeable about film and all of those things. I couldn’t feel more safe. And he’d had, you know, six ideas a week, and would want to get all of them done. And I would think, Oh, yeah, you know, we’ll see about that. And then they mostly all came to pass. And when I started writing, he was my biggest, he encouraged the most of anybody and said, Darling, is what I have sort of an idea and thought he might like it. And he said, do it just keep the pages piling up.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  48:17

And you have said that he had a depressive personality, right?

 

Julie Andrews  48:21

Yes, he did.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  48:22

And how did you navigate that as a couple and as his wife?

 

Julie Andrews  48:26

By learning more and more about how to deal with it. And with the help of good therapy and things like that. And I did know, when he would obviously because he wasn’t depressive at times, it would have a peak and then it would disappear. He loved working. He loved writing. So when he was doing that he was usually pretty great. But it was other times and he was he was very sad at times and knowing his background. I’m not surprised.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  49:01

Have you struggled with depression? Julie?

 

Julie Andrews  49:06

Yes, but not, not like not like I mean, occasionally. No. I mean, I was depressed when I did have my surgery varied. But then, happily, time and learning and beginning to do something else came along and that was very good for me.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  49:26

Oh, I bet. So not only are you a grandmother, you are a great grandmother, right?

 

Julie Andrews  49:32

Yes, I am yeah.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  49:33

Okay, so you’re the first great grandmother we’ve had on this show. So I’m very excited about that. How would you how would you characterize the difference between being a grandmother and then a great grandmother is there how do you distinguish those?

 

Julie Andrews  49:48

Great grandmother is a tiny bit more removed than being a grandma because it’s the generations kind of work to bring it raised differently at times, and so on. But in terms of the blessing that they all are and how sweet they all are, especially the babies. I don’t I don’t care whether it’s a great grandchild or a great grandchild, it could be a great, great if I get so lucky. But I have five kids of my guess. And then I have like 10 grandchildren. And then they have like three or four. I don’t know if there are any more hanging around or waiting in the wings as we say. But they’re so adorable when they’re little too.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  50:35

And Julie what did they call you?

 

Julie Andrews  50:35

Granny Jools. J O O L S.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  50:35

Love it.

 

Julie Andrews  50:35

Mostly, I’m known as granny Jools.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  50:35

Granny Jools is lovely people call me Jules. So they call you Jules?

 

Julie Andrews  50:35

Yes.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  50:38

Yeah. How do you spell your J U L E S?

 

Julie Andrews  50:48

Yep, I’ve been that now. I’m double O L S S.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  50:55

Yes.

 

Julie Andrews  50:55

Just I don’t know why. But it seemed easier.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  50:58

Yeah, it does. okay, Joolss, double O O L S, at the end of these conversations, I always ask a couple of quick questions.

 

Julie Andrews  51:06

Oh, for sure.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  51:07

This has been such a delight to talk to you. It’s just been like a dream. Okay, so here’s the first question. Is there something you’d go back and tell yourself when you’re 21?

 

Julie Andrews  51:18

Oh, well, it’s something that I get asked a lot in terms of what advice do you have for younger people. And I think what I tried to convey to everybody is finally learning the pleasure of singing and giving, giving it back to others. I used to do it by rote. I was in my parents vaudeville act. And then I went out on my own for years. But it was all because I had to, and we needed the money. And I would come on stage and kind of clasp my hands and sing my big Aria and so on. But when I learned that I could give people pleasure and really meet me in that I did that realize that they come to the theater paying good money, to see something, and that they go away hopefully feeling happier, and more enlightened. Let’s say, it’s something I learned when I was about, or 24, I think something like that. And I would say if you’re passionate, do your homework to all the young people trying because if you don’t, you won’t have as many chances you won’t be as good. And so it’s all about doing your homework and then giving it and giving the pleasure of it.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  52:35

And do you is there something that you would like me to know about aging from where you sit right now?

 

Julie Andrews  52:40

Well, yes, I tell me. Mostly I say aging sucked. But, but it doesn’t really. And that since there’s no alternative, why bitch so much about it, and try to find out what I can still do and what I love to do and what gives me pleasure and so on.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  53:00

I see, yeah. And what are you looking forward to? What’s something you’re looking forward to?

 

Julie Andrews  53:05

And directing other things, passing on more books if I can, because I do love doing them. I’m still learning about writing. But as long as people like what’s coming out, I will continue and I hope to get more and more competent and better. You know. I mean, I would love to direct more too.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  53:27

So before we say goodbye. I want to tell you that. Last year, I took a trip with actually my very friend, Paula who produces this podcast with me, my friend from college. And we went hiking in the Dolomites, and, yes. And so and the wildflowers were bananas.

 

Julie Andrews  53:49

Exquisite, I can imagine.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  53:51

And of course, what did we see when we got to high altitudes? We saw.

 

Julie Andrews  53:55

Edelweiss

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  53:56

That’s right, and so I wanted to show you the picture. Edelweiss, and we took how lovely isn’t that lovely?

 

Julie Andrews  54:06

Yes.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  54:06

And every time I have to say it was such every time we would see when I would scream Edelweiss, Edelweiss.

 

Julie Andrews  54:15

It’s one of my favorite songs, by the way from the sound of music. That isn’t my favorite things. But Edelweiss is about anyone’s hometown and beloved, I love whatever it was, and it was it. I used to finish my my variety act with that and with a full orchestra, it is almost enough to render me very cheerful at times because it’s very pretty.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  54:36

It’s very pretty, it’s very it’s a tender song.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  54:42

Yeah, it’s absolutely gorgeous. And it’s a great metaphor too for connection. Because there you are with other musicians who are lifting you up, you’d no doubt are lifting them up as well. And so they’re.

 

Julie Andrews  54:42

Well, I have no trouble bringing back happy memories or warm feelings or and to hear the orchestrations. I love singing with an orchestra. It’s like the one thing I’d love to end with this. When you love what you do, and when you sing with a symphony orchestra. I tell you, it’s Like my singing teacher used to say, singing with a symphony orchestra is like being lifted up in the most comfortable armchair you could sit in and being carried over the orchestra. And of course, it stimulates you to sing better, to try harder. And I loved making albums and things like that very much. So joy, isn’t that a lovely analogy of how all of that turns you want to be better than you ever thought you may be? Better than you ever thought you could?

 

Julie Andrews  55:41

I don’t know about that.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  55:42

But no, I guarantee.

 

Julie Andrews  55:43

A tap if they tap this stems at the end of the recording or whatever. It’s a great accolade.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  55:49

But the point being that connection is everything, don’t you think, Julie?

 

Julie Andrews  55:53

Yes I do.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  55:54

Well, I want to thank you for speaking with us today. This was a treasure.

 

Julie Andrews  55:59

It was a lovely interview. Julia was nice talking about all the things, all my favorite things as they say.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  56:04

Yeah, it really was. And I wish you nothing but happiness and health, and laughter.

 

Julie Andrews  56:11

Thank you, that’s what’s gonna do it, isn’t it?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  56:13

Yeah, it is.

 

Julie Andrews  56:14

I think so. I hope we meet again soon, Julia.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  56:17

I do to Julie. I hope we our paths crossed. I just, I give you my love.

 

Julie Andrews  56:23

If somebody that loves Carol as much as I do, and you do, we’re all going to meet again.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  56:28

We’re gonna meet again, I’m going to text her after we finish and I’m going to tell her I just spoke with you and so.

 

Julie Andrews  56:33

We’ll give them my love. If my chum my luck.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  56:37

I will indeed.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  56:42

Okay, well, she’s just as delightful as I dreamed she’d be. God, what a perfect way to end Season Two. My mom is gonna freak out when I tell her about this. Okay, I gotta get her on a zoom call.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  57:00

Hi, Mommy.

 

Mommy  57:01

Hi, love, hi.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  57:03

So, I just spoke to Julie Andrews. If you can even believe that. I’m telling you that.

 

Mommy  57:11

Oh, my gosh. Julie Andrews, like part of our DNA.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  57:17

Yeah, for real, because she was such a huge part of our family and our childhood, don’t you think?

 

Mommy  57:23

In a kind of perfect way. You know, she was sort of a perfect, gifted performer.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  57:28

Yeah, absolutely. She looked perfect. She spoke perfectly. And she sang perfectly.

 

Mommy  57:35

But one of the stories I grew up with was Mary Poppins. And my friend Judy, I used to read all the Mary Poppins books, and then she would tell me about them. So I had in my image of this Mary Poppins, it was always sort of round in the trees and so forth. And she was a perfect Mary Poppins.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  57:50

Yeah, she really hit that one out of the park. So you know, speaking of perfection, she I don’t know if you know this, but she had a lot of vocal trouble. And actually, it was very hard for her to talk about it for multiple reasons. But her singing voice is highly compromised, which is a great tragedy, really, and she has overcome this, which is beautiful. I mean, she has found her way through that with the help of her daughter and therapy. And she’s become a writer, which has given her a new voice, in fact, which is wonderful. But it really did it made me think about you because when I was 18, you got an acoustic neuroma, which is a benign tumor, but it was in your, in your ear, deep within your.

 

Mommy  58:52

[…] in the brainstem. So I had this I had the test after test after test. And finally it was determined that I had an aroma on my right, my right grandson, Brandon. And I went from you know, playing tennis and just doing my my life and all of a sudden, this happened. And I remember that you drove you drove me down to the hospital and your sisters were in the car. And when I got out of the car, and Daddy was going to meet me in the hospital, and when I got out of the car, I remember just a flash for a moment, I thought to myself, I may never see my girls again, because in the olden days, that is just a point of years before acoustic neuromas could kill people because the surgery was so intricate. And so I faced that. So I went into the surgery and and then came came out of the surgery. And then I as I was recovering, I very slowly began to comprehend that I was deaf in my right ear.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  1:00:00

Can you talk about that transition and what that was like for you, mommy?

 

Mommy  1:00:04

You know, the thing about it is that it’s so much can happen in life, which is that you are going along and you’re in your hole. And you don’t even think about your hearing or your taste or your vision, because everything works. All I can say is that it equipped me to know that these wonderful things that we have that we take for granted that we have with our human bodies, that in a flash, you can be taken. And then I think about Julie Andrews, because it didn’t take away my my lifeforce, although it did throw me into into writing in a certain way. I’ve never quite understood exactly what that process has been in me. But but it I did find, I mean, I’m so happy that she found writing. And I’m so happy that I found writing as a way of going beyond loss, or going into into a new life. And I always loved literature, but it never occurred to me to make it and the making of it. I think, really, it thrust me into making and in a way I don’t think I would have otherwise I think I would have continued to just receive literature.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  1:01:20

That is amazing. And I hadn’t considered the connection between your hearing loss and then your sort of fervor for writing and how it sort of took hold for you. And for our listeners, just in case you’re interested. My mother’s written two books of poetry. Mom, what are the names of the two books of poetry?

 

Mommy  1:01:42

The Gatherer is the first and The Unlocatable Source is the second. That’s a interesting in view of what we’re talking about, because in a way, I wouldn’t have known then that maybe a loss had led me toward the importance of expression. I mean, and I know, Julie Andrews work. She is a wonderful writer, and she’s written with her daughter too, which is a wonderful thing. And it makes me feel so good to think that I’m like I in some way like her or have found the same path.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  1:02:16

Yes, and in some way, she’s like you. And that’s really nice. I think that that is a perfect way to end this particular season of Wiser Than Me. This is the end of season two Mom, if you can believe it.

 

Mommy  1:02:31

Oh, honey, season. Yes, can you believe it is no. Well, I have to say something. My friends who are older women, I have appreciated and enjoy what you’re doing on this this so much. And it is so important to have older women listen to and maybe even for them to begin to appreciate who they are and what they’ve done. Because, telling your story. It’s like you have a new appreciation of it. So even they’re telling it hey, I think is a wonderful thing for for women to do.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  1:03:05

Me too. I think so too. So there you go, Mommy.

 

Mommy  1:03:10

There you go. I need well, listen, you’re you’re a lot wiser than me.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  1:03:13

Now, ma you’re wiser than me.

 

Mommy  1:03:15

Well, it works both ways. Isn’t that beautiful?

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  1:03:19

Yes, it’s a dupli.

 

Mommy  1:03:20

Yeah.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  1:03:21

I love you, Mommy.

 

Mommy  1:03:22

I love you, honey.

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus  1:03:23

Talk to you later.

 

Mommy  1:03:24

Okay, bye bye

 

CREDITS  1:03:35

There’s more Wiser Than Me with Lemonada Premium subscribers get exclusive access to bonus content from each episode of the show. Subscribe now in Apple podcasts. Make sure you’re following Wiser Than Me on social media. We’re on Instagram and Tiktok at @WiserThanMe, and we’re on Facebook at Wiser Than Me podcast. Wiser Than Me is a production of Lemonada Media. Created and hosted by me Julia Louie Dreyfus. This show is produced by Kryssy Pease, Jamela Zarha Williams, Alex McOwen, and Hoja Lopez. Brad Hall is a consulting producer, Rachel Neil is VP of new content and our SVP of weekly content and production is Steve Nelson. Executive Producers are Paula Kaplan, Stephanie Wittels Wachs, Jessica Cordova Kramer, and me. The show is mixed by Johnny Vince Evans with engineering help from James Sparber. And our music was written by Henry Hall, who you can also find on Spotify or wherever you listen to your music. Special thanks to Will Schlegel, and of course, my mother Judith Bowles. Follow Wiser Than Me wherever you get your podcasts. And if there’s a wise old lady in your life, listen up.