Published 06:29 IST, October 5th 2019
Julie Andrews went into depression after losing her singing voice
Legendary singer Julie Andrews, who shot to fame after Marry Poppins, revealed she went into depression when she lost her singing voice post-operation in 1997.
Legendary singer and actress Julie Andrews, who turned 84 this year on October 1, revealed that she went into depression after she lost her singing voice post-surgery in 1997. Speaking to an American magazine, she said that her singing voice was gone when she woke up after an operation to remove a cyst on her vocal cord. “I went into a depression. It felt like I'd lost my identity,” said Andrews.
Went under several operations
According to Julie Andrews, she found her voice unusually hoarse during a Broadway show. She was suffering from ‘a certain kind of muscular striation (that) happens on the vocal cords’ which she earlier believed were ‘non-cancerous nodules’. Andrews went under several operations to get her original voice back but the surgery had destroyed her four-octave soprano singing voice permanently. The Academy award-winning actress said that singing was the most important thing of all and has been ‘incredibly lost’ without it.
A new career in writing
Andrews acknowledged that she misses singing but coped up with it by writing books for children. “By good fortune, that's when my daughter Emma and I had been asked to write books for kids,” said Andrews. “So along came a brand-new career in my mid-60s. Boy that was a lovely surprise," she added. Andrew also continued her acting career and got various opportunities in Hollywood.
The multi-talented Julie Andrews
Andrews revealed her hidden talent saying she is a very good whistler. "I'd love to be able to paint, I'd love to be a good cook, but I'm rotten. I don't have the patience for it. But I have to say, I'm a very good whistler. A lot of singers are,” she said. Andrews won Academy awards for best actress in 1965 for her debut film Mary Poppins. The three-time Grammy winner has also won several Gloden Globe awards for her acting prowess.
(With ANI Inputs)
Updated 20:33 IST, October 5th 2019