Many of us nurture these dreams because we believe that fame and fortune improve our lives.
However, some people have gone through all of this and concluded that it is not required to live a happy life.
Julie Christie, a stunningly beautiful and talented actress who left Hollywood at the pinnacle of her career, is one of them.
As her fame grew, she decided she’d had enough and switched to a more peaceful existence. Many people were surprised by her decision, but she never looked back.
Christie is a British actress, but her father owned a tea plantation in India, where she was born.
Nonetheless, when she was six years old, she was transferred to a British boarding school.
You’d be surprised how easy it was to be expelled back then, she later said after being expelled from a number of colleges.
“Once, it was because I had my school dress tucked into my knickers and was accused of enticing village boys.”
Christie completed her schooling in Paris, France, before returning to England. She then enrolled at London’s Central School of Theatre. At the age of 16, the young actress made her stage debut with the Frinton Repertory of Essex. She subsequently began traveling with the Royal Shakespeare Company, a passion she discovered after leaving Hollywood.
Christie made her acting début in 1961 in the science fiction BBC series A for Andromeda.
Because of this series, she was able to attract the attention of prominent directors and producers, who saw her as a potential star. Her breakthrough came in 1963, with the release of John Schlesinger’s film Billy Liar. The renowned role of promiscuous model Diana Scott in Darling followed, and it rapidly became well-known.
Another great smash was on the way as she began to establish herself. Christie co-starred with Omar Sharif in the classic 1965 love romance Doctor Zhivago.
Nonetheless, despite her stardom and status, Christie did not find much delight in being a superstar.
“I never wanted to be a big star. But I must admit that it is starting to appeal to me. However, I’m scared I’ll become intolerable. “In fact, I’m sometimes downright rude to people now,” Julie admitted.
“I’m starting to feel spoilt. I’m starting to anticipate things. When others begin to forecast tremendous things for you, you become terribly spoiled.”
“I don’t consider myself a celebrity,” she continued. Nobody ever recognizes me wherever I go, which makes me happy. Success is a trap that you fall into. “I’m a very selfish and insecure person.”
Her career skyrocketed with subsequent films such as Far from the Madding Crowd, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Shampoo, and Heaven Can Wait. Julie performed in some of those productions alongside her then-boyfriend Warren Beatty, who was widely known as a womanizer.
Several people tried to urge Christie to avoid him because of his long past with women, but she refused. Among the prominent ladies Beatty has dated are Jane Fonda, Carly Simon, Goldie Hawn, Joni Mitchell, Jacqueline Onassis, and Madonna.
Director John Schlesinger advised her to leave him because he “gets through women like a businessman gets through a dozen oysters.”
They later separated up but remained great friends.
“He provided me with a political perspective, for which I am grateful.” “I loved the way he would go to baseball games and stand up in the middle of the game and talk about getting rid of guns,” Christie said of Beatty after the separation.
“He would be this little tiny figure in this big baseball stadium, and I would be looking down at him, and I thought he was wonderfully courageous for doing that.”
“She and her husband stay in our guest house when they visit Los Angeles.” “We’re very close, and she’s an extraordinary person,” Beatty told People in 2016.
Christie left her beautiful life in 1977 and moved back to England, where she shared a home with a family and their kids because she was single and had no children of her own.
Subsequently, in 1979, she started dating journalist Duncan Campbell, with whom she later got married.
Years after moving to England, Christie returned to Hollywood and played in Away From Her, portraying an Alzheimer’s patient.
The actress is now 82 and she is as stunning as ever. She admitted undergoing cosmetic surgery and says she has “no connection at all” with her young self. “That person has gone,” she added.