Julia Roberts praised for resurfaced interview clip on domestic violence following Blake Lively backlash

Julia Roberts has been praised after an old interview clip resurfaced where she thoughtfully answered a question about domestic violence, and viewers are telling Blake Lively to "take notes."

The 56-year-old actor who is widely known for her roles in romcoms Pretty Woman and Notting Hill, also starred in the 1991 film Sleeping with the Enemy.

In the psychological thriller, Roberts plays Laura Burney - a woman who has to change her identity in order to escape her abusive husband.

During the press tour for the film, the then-23-year-old was interviewed by late reporter and film critic Bobbie Wygant who asked her what she would do if she was ever in a similar situation as her character.

"That's not for me to really say," Roberts answered. "I can't even fathom being in a situation quite that horrible. It's not in my realms of understanding."

To which Wygant said that she would "just fight back" as she "wouldn't be able to take it for three and a half years."

"But I think it's a process of manipulation that grows and becomes stronger than that," Roberts explained. "It's not that cut and dry."

"I think it's amazingly psychological and very destructive, so I don't think it's quite that simple."

Now, the interview has been shared on TikTok where it has garnered over 1.5m views, and it comes after actor Blake Lively was criticised by social media users for telling cinemagoers to “bring their florals” as part of her "tone-deaf" publicity of her latest film It Ends With Us, which similarly deals with the serious issue of domestic violence.

TikToker Sarah (@dammitsarah79) who reposted Robert's interview commented: "Even in the 90s, Julia was so far ahead of the curve on how to answer questions on DV [domestic violence]. Take notes, Blake."

In the comments section, viewers agreed with this take and praised Julia's words.

One person wrote: "She's [Roberts] has always been next level, emotionally intelligent."

"Her tone is on point," another person wrote. "It’s a serious movie so she’s answering with sincerity aka not making jokes."

Someone else added: "As someone who has been in those shoes, even though she couldn’t fathom it, she completely understood it."

"Such a thoughtful response," a fourth person commented.

Since the criticism, Lively appears to have responded by posting to her Instagram Story on August 13, where she wrote:

"One in 4 women aged 18 and older in the US alone have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime."

"Intimate partner violence affects all genders, including more than 12 million people every year in the United States. Everyone deserves relationships free from domestic violence," along with a link to the National Domestic Violence Helpline.

Elsewhere, TikTok sleuths are convinced there is drama between the 'It Ends With Us' cast and the 2016 Blake Lively interview controversy explained.

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