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Julia Roberts' rules for parenting adult kids: 'It's not eye-rolling'

Julia Roberts is sharing her approach to parenting as her children enter adulthood. Roberts shares three children, including twins, with husband Danny Moder.

Julia Roberts is a private person, but she's sharing a glimpse of how she parents her three children as they enter adulthood.

Roberts joined her "Leave the World Behind" co-star, Mahershala Ali, for an interview with "Today," and she revealed she approaches parenting the same way she always has. 

Roberts and her husband, Danny Moder, have 19-year-old twins in college, Hazel and Phinnaeus, and a son, Henry, 16.

"I parent them the same way out of the house that I parented them in the house, which is, 'Are you getting enough sleep? You sound like you're sick. Are you drinking enough tea? Text me when you get home. I can see that you're home safe and sound,'" she said. 

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"And I have immense amount of appreciation for both of my older kids because they still allow me to be the same mom to them, and it's not eye-rolling. There's a huge amount of understanding."

Ali asked, "Is it a different discomfort, you leaving and traveling for work and all that? Compared to them leaving and going to college?"

"Yeah. And it's funny too, right now me being away," Roberts replied. "And so Henry and Danny are home, and then I'm in another time zone, and then Phinn is somewhere and Hazel is somewhere, and we were all on a FaceTime the other day — together, all of us.

"And it was so fun. I might have had a towel on my wet head. We were all so happy to be together that way that we still are so deeply in love."

Danny and Julia first met working on "The Mexican" in 2000. The pair tied the knot in 2002 and welcomed their twins in 2004 and Henry in 2006.

"He's just really our anchor and our person," Roberts said of Moder during the "Today" interview. "And in the most beautiful way, the captain of our ship, you know, truly. For me, understanding how deeply felt life could be really started with him."

Roberts also touched on how she navigates parenting in the age of technology and smartphones.

"So, for us, we just had sort of simple rules where we had a charging station where everyone's phones go when you get home. There's no phones at the table, certainly," Roberts shared. 

Julia and Ali's upcoming Netflix thriller focuses on a cyberattack due to a failure of technology. During an interview with "Extra," the stars were asked about what they miss most from a world before smartphones and advanced technology.

"I miss when you couldn’t get a hold of people, or they couldn’t get a hold of you," Roberts said. "Not only just that period, but then I think of a family coming together at the end of the day, and you actually have things to talk about at dinner because you haven’t been in contact all day long a hundred times … or a busy signal."

On Nov. 28, Roberts took to Instagram to share an old photo of her holding her twins when they were babies, celebrating their 19th birthday. 

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She began the caption, "19. There are no words for the joy, the fun, the wild rumpus of life together."

Speaking to "Extra," Roberts discussed the Instagram post and why she decided to publicly share a picture of her kids.

Julia and Daniel have kept their private lives to themselves and have been selective in the past about what the public sees and knows about their three children.

"It is something to be celebrated, and I know Instagram is a place where people like to share happy things, and I love them so much. And I really did just happen to come upon this cute picture and I thought … that allows me to share something as a proud parent of them without infringing on their privacy at all," she told the outlet.

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On Monday, Roberts was a guest on "The View" to promote her upcoming Netflix thriller and discussed her family's Christmas traditions.

"I love the holidays. I love any excuse to just slow down, be cozy, cook, eat, spread the love," Roberts said. She noted her family always opts for a real Christmas tree, and her husband and kids go to their nearby forest to chop it down.

"We live near a forest. Makes us sound like elves. We live near a forest, and my husband and the kids, they get a permit and go out there," Roberts said. 

Julia also told "The View" co-hosts her secret to a long, happy marriage. Roberts and Moder celebrated 21 years of marriage this year.

"I think marrying the right person is important," she said. "Lots of kissing hello and goodbye is really, I think, a critical detail to daily life … Everybody try it. Give it a week. Every time you say good morning, a hug and a kiss."

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Julia is appearing on the small screen opposite Ali, Kevin Bacon and Ethan Hawke in "Leave the World Behind," which debuts on Netflix Dec. 8. 

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