My Life with Julia
Q&A with Alex Prud’homme ’80
Fans of the popular summer movie Julie & Julia may already know that the film is based on two true stories: Julie Powell’s Julie & Julia and My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme. For the growing number of Julia fans, here’s the rest of that story…
Q: what was your original connection to Julia Child?
Q: how well did you know Julia and Paul Child growing up?
A:
A:
Julia’s husband, Paul, was the twin brother of my grandfather, Charles Child. So she was my great-aunt. I grew up knowing her on TV and in person; the two Julias were one and the same. The personality you saw on TV was the same personality I saw at home—funny, smart and happiest when cooking something delicious for an appreciative audience. Paul had been a diplomat, was an accomplished artist and was an essential part of Julia’s success. In fact, our book is dedicated to him. He was ten years older than she was, knew all about wine and entertained us with unusual tricks. He and I shared a love of bacon and bananas, and Julia thought we looked alike—which is probably one reason she liked me.
Quite well. Although they lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and we lived in New York, they were frequently in Manhattan as Julia’s career flourished. We’d often have Thanksgiving together, and we’d see each other in Maine during the summer, where Paul helped my grandfather build a log cabin. They never had children of their own but were close to Charlie’s children (my mother, aunt and uncle). They weren’t quite another set of grandparents to us—Julia was a celebrity, and they were always flying off to exotic places like France or California—but they were very down-to-earth people, and always curious about what WE were up to. Julia and Paul were generous, and would pass on gifts of food and cookbooks they’d been given from well-meaning friends. But their biggest gift was to live their lives in an exemplary way: they taught us the importance of passion, doggedness, creativity and humor.
Taft Bulletin Fall 2009 33