Julie Powell, a best-selling author who documented her attempts to make every dish in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which served as the basis for the film Julie & Julia, died on October 26 in her New York residence aged 49.
The New York Times received confirmation of her passing from her husband, Eric Powell, who stated that heart arrest was the cause.
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The 2009 film adaptation of Powell’s novel, which was directed by Nora Ephron, starred Amy Adams as Powell and Meryl Streep as Julia Child.
Who is Julie Powell’s husband Eric?
Powell and Eric first became acquainted when they both performed the love leads in the high school play All My Sons.
After being married in 1998, problems arose when it was revealed that Julie was having an extramarital affair.
2009 saw the release of Julie’s final book, Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession, in which she discussed her marriage to her spouse.
Also read: Who was Julie Powell?
Her affair with an unknown individual referred to in the book only as D, was discussed in detail along with their relationship.
She also discussed Eric’s simultaneous affair, which started soon after he learned that his wife was dating someone.
According to Julie, when her husband learned about the affair, he came to the realisation that she wasn’t ready to stop, that she wanted to stay married, and that he didn’t want to leave her.
After the book’s release, Julie and Eric withdrew from the public eye and kept their relationship a secret more and more.
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Julie admitted to The Morning Call in 2011, “Eric and I made a deal. I agreed to drop the curtain on our lives to a degree, so it didn’t seem like we were living in a fishbowl.”
People became interested in their relationship as a result of the movie, she claimed in an interview with The Mercury News, adding, “A lot of people saw the relationship as this paragon. It’s not that it was a lie, but I wrote it at this period where I was very naive and I thought marriage was a pretty little box with a bow.”
“Marriage is incredibly difficult and the people in it change. I wanted to honor that. Both of us — primarily me — have made some really terrible choices,” she added.
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“Eric is naturally treading very carefully in the world right about now. We talked a lot about me writing this book, and I would never have published it without his blessing; couldn’t have, legally, even if I were so callous as to choose to. Eric is a naturally reserved person in the best of times. He’s also an extremely courageous and generous man. He’s not exactly tripping through the daisies this week, but he is understanding enough to know what this book means to me, and what about it is important,” Powell wrote in her book.