Julia Roberts freaked out when she learned heavy security on her latest film prevented her from learning her mother had suffered a heart attack!
The Oscar-winning actress burst into tears when she got the news, but quickly flew into a rage over the extreme safety precautions, a family friend told The ENQUIRER.
Julia was relieved to hear that her mother had undergone surgery and was recovering. But when she found out it took a day and a half for her family to get through her intense security, she absolutely exploded,” the source divulged.
The Pretty Woman star is filming the big-screen version of the best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. She was on location in New DelhiIndia, with her twins Phinnaeus and Hazel, 4 1/2, and son Henry, 2, when her mother Betty suffered a heart attack, said the source.
Betty, 75, was rushed to a hospital near her home in Atlanta, Ga., where surgeons performed an emergency angioplasty procedure.
But telephone and Internet access to the New Delhi area was monopolized by the crew on Julia’s film and the scores of police officers, private guards and plainclothes security assigned to protect her, said the source.
As a result, cell phone communication was spotty, and the 41-year-old actress didn’t hear about her mother’s medical crisis until 36 hours after it happened in late September, according to the insider.
“Betty was lucky to undergo the procedure when she did, because if she hadn’t, she could have died,” explained the family friend.
“The situation became even more dire when Julia’s family tried to reach her and couldn’t. Julia had no clue what was going on. By the time she got the news, her mother was stabilized and well into recovery.”
Still, the news left Julia badly shaken, said the source.
“Initially, Julia freaked out and began crying,” said the insider.
“Ultimately, she grew enraged when she found out how long it took her to get the news.”
According to the source, Julia read the riot act to the film’s producers and staffers.
“Julia railed at them, ‘When your own family can’t get through to you, that’s too much security! My mom could have been dead, and I might have been the last one in the world to know about it. That’s beyond outrageous,’” said the source.
“Julia said she’d rather have no security at all than go through an episode like that again, and she made sure everyone from the executive producer to her husband Danny knew how she felt.
“She only calmed down when she talked to her mother herself, and was sure that she was out of the woods.”
