Julie Andrews has been spotted in public for the first time in months.
The 91-year-old Oscar winner was photographed being helped out of a vehicle last Friday in the Hamptons, according to photos. Andrews, who celebrated her birthday earlier this month, dressed casually for the rare outing, wearing a lilac jacket, a white baseball cap, and pink-shaded sunglasses.
The sighting comes after Andrews signaled a major shift away from on-camera work following nearly eight decades in front of audiences. In an August interview with the Hollywood Reporter, she mapped out what her career looks like now.
“I’m not completely retired, but it’s a different kind of work that I do these days — [writing] books, and I do a lot of recording of podcasts and voiceovers,” she told the outlet.
That same interview brought disappointing news for fans of one of her most beloved roles. Andrews confirmed she would not return for a third “Princess Diaries” film, closing the door on Queen Clarisse Renaldi.
“I think the absolute truth is that I think I’m really past all that now,” the “Mary Poppins” star told the Hollywood Reporter. “It isn’t that I’m not enthusiastic for it. It’s just that I really don’t feel I should be part of it now,” she added.
Andrews originated the role of Queen Clarisse Renaldi in the 2001 Disney hit, playing the elegant grandmother who reveals to teenager Mia Thermopolis that she is heir to the throne of Genovia. Anne Hathaway starred as Mia in the film and its 2004 sequel.
The franchise has been the subject of revival talks for years, and as recently as July, Hathaway, 43, offered an update on where the third installment stands. Speaking to Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM radio show, she acknowledged the project had hit a creative reset.
“The script that we were working on — we kind of had to start over with this new direction, which is not the update I think anybody wants — but we all feel really good that this is gonna be the one,” Hathaway said at the time.
Andrews’ decision to step back from the role she created more than two decades ago leaves the planned sequel without one of its signature performers. Her August comments to the Hollywood Reporter marked her most definitive statement yet on the matter, after years of speculation about whether she and Hathaway might reunite on screen.
The “Sound of Music” star’s Hamptons appearance offered a glimpse of how she is spending her time away from film sets. Between book projects, podcast recordings, and voiceover work, Andrews has built a quieter professional life that keeps her out of the public eye.
Her last major on-screen role came in 2010’s “Tooth Fairy” alongside Dwayne Johnson, though she has continued lending her distinctive voice to animated projects including the “Despicable Me” franchise and the Netflix series “Bridgerton” as the voice of Lady Whistledown.
Andrews’ October birthday and her subsequent Hamptons outing mark one of the few times the screen legend has been photographed in 2024, underscoring how thoroughly she has retreated from the spotlight even as her influence on film history remains towering.
Hathaway has not publicly responded to Andrews’ confirmation that she will not participate in the third “Princess Diaries” film.