Julie Andrews compares ‘anxiety’ during Second World War to coronavirus fears

‘I feel a very big similarity to the feelings one had then to the feelings one has now’

Julie Andrews admitted that the coronavirus pandemic has brought up the same emotions she felt as a child during the Second World War.

The 84-year-old actor, who starred in such iconic roles as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music’s Maria, is turning her hand to audio entertainment with a new children’s storytelling podcast, Julie’s Library.

Speaking about the decision to release the podcast early during coronavirus lockdown, Andrews told The Guardian that her desire to speak to children during this time of unrest came from her own experience as a child who was only nine when the war ended.

“I feel a very big similarity to the feelings one had then to the feelings one has now,” she said.

“Then, I was very concerned and worried and frightened and anxious, and one didn’t know where the next wave would come.”

She continued: “But one thing I did recognise as a child was the amount of bonding that happened in England because of the war, and I feel the same feelings in America here at this moment.”

Andrews has remained political throughout her life, in November criticising President Donald Trump and calling his decisions to cut funding to the arts and pull America out of the Paris Climate Agreement “deeply disturbing”.

“Oh, Mary Poppins would have shaped him up,” she said. “God knows, if only we had the chance to try.”