Dame Julie Andrews made a rare appearance over the weekend, opening the seventh World Parkinson's Congress in a video message shared on YouTube by the World Parkinson Coalition. The 90-year-old performer sat in a white chair by a window, wearing a cozy gray sweatshirt over a white turtleneck, with gold earrings and a long gold necklace as she addressed attendees.
"Good evening, everyone, I'm Julie Andrews, and I'm pleased to welcome you to the seventh World Parkinson's Congress," she said at the start of the clip. Andrews added, "Your participation is invaluable as we seek to find a cure to this terrible disease," before saying, "I know well how devastating it can be." She closed with a line that framed her message as both personal and urgent: "May we all become a beacon of light to stop it in its tracks. Count me in as a red thread. Thank you."
The appearance mattered because Andrews is rarely seen publicly now, even as she has remained active in recent years through projects such as Netflix's Bridgerton and children's books. Known for The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and The Princess Diaries, Andrews has stayed in the public eye in selective bursts, including her role as Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton and her announcement of a new children's book, Shy.
That book, created with her eldest daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, is scheduled to be released on August 11 in the United States and Canada. According to the caption on Andrews' official Instagram account, Shy is illustrated by Eva Byrne and was inspired by Julie's own singing dog. Andrews and Walton Hamilton have collaborated on several children's books, including The Very Fairy Princess series, Waiting in the Wings and Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies.
The congress appearance also linked Andrews' public work to a cause she described in direct personal terms. She said she knew well how devastating Parkinson's can be, but the video did not explain any personal connection to the disease. That gap is part of what gave the message its weight: Andrews was not offering details, only support, and asking others to join the search for a cure.
Born 90 years ago, Andrews has spent decades moving between stage, film and family projects. She is the mother of five, and her eldest daughter, Emma, is her child with set designer Tony Walton, whom she married in 1959 and divorced in 1968. Andrews married director Blake Edwards in 1969; he had two children, Jennifer and Geoffrey, from a previous marriage, and the couple adopted two daughters, Amy and Joanna, who were born in Vietnam. Andrews and Edwards remained married for more than 40 years until his death from pneumonia in 2010.
For now, the message from Andrews was straightforward: she wants the work to continue, she wants the disease stopped, and she wanted the conference opened with a voice familiar to millions. The rare appearance said as much about the seriousness of Parkinson's as it did about Andrews' enduring place in public life.
