London, August 07: Hollywood superstar Julia Roberts has converted to Hinduism in the hope of having a peaceful life in her next incarnation.
The 42-year-old actress, who was born to a Baptist and Catholic couple, is now a practising Hindu after visiting India while shooting her upcoming movie ‘Eat Pray Love’.
The Academy award winning actress said she now goes to temples to”chant, pray and celebrate” accompanied by her cameraman husband Daniel Moder and their three children, Hazel, Phinnaeus and Henry.
“I’m definitely a practising Hindu. I’ve been so spoiled with my friends and family in this life. Next time I want to be just something quiet and supporting,” said Roberts.
The ‘Pretty Woman’ star was introduced to the Eastern philosophy while shooting for ‘Eat Pray Love’, the movie, based on the best-selling book by Elizabeth Gilbert, Roberts plays a recently-divorced woman travelling the world trying to find herself.
The character visits Italy for food, India for spirituality and Bali, where she finds love.
Roberts has been interested in yoga for quite some time now.
She was in India last year in September to shoot “Eat, Pray, Love” in an ashram in Haryana. Julia visited a local Hindu saint Swami Dharam Dev of the Hari Mandir Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya ashram, who re-named her three children – though only for their time in India. Her twins Hazel and Phinnaeus as Laxmi and Ganesh while Henry will be called Krishn Balram.
She also sported a “bindi” during her visit to Taj Mahal with husband Danny Moder in January 2009.
Until her visit to India, she had also been considered one of the West’s most “Hindu-friendly” celebrities.
—Agencies