Julia Roberts explains 'statement' hairy armpits at the Notting Hill premiere

Julia Roberts has spoken about one of her most talked-about red carpet appearances ever. Photo / Getty Images

Julia Roberts has opened up about her "feminist statement" on the red carpet at the Notting Hill premiere in 1999.

The Pretty Woman actor was out celebrating her new movie with co-star Hugh Grant, when she made headlines thanks to her bold accessory — hairy armpits.

Julia Roberts at the Notting Hill London Premiere. Photo / Getty Images

Roberts, 51, was asked about the memorable moment during an interview on Busy Philipps' new talk show, Busy Tonight.

"Also just because of feminism, I'm always thinking about these things — you know, you rocked the hairy armpit at the Notting Hill premiere, and you never really said if that was like a statement," Philipps said.

"The picture is vivid in my mind, actually, from that moment," Roberts joked.

"I think I just hadn't really calculated my sleeve length and the waving and how those two things would go together and reveal personal things about me.

"So it wasn't so much a statement as it's just part of the statement I make as a human on the planet."

"Which is very dope, and I'm here for it!" Philipps replied.

Later in the interview, Roberts left the TV host in stitches when she admitted that despite only signing up for Instagram in June this year, she'd actually been lurking on her favourite celebrities' pages for quite some time.

"I didn't feel creepy about it until now … I felt super good about it until this moment," she quipped.

"I was just like, 'What's Oprah up to? What's Busy doing?'"

Roberts, who currently stars in Amazon thriller Homecoming, also explained why she sensationally clapped back at an Instagram troll mere weeks after joining the social media site.

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"I didn't mean to clap back, I'd never heard the words 'clap back', something just stumbled into my eyeball range, and I was just being funny — like a schoolteacher," she admitted.

"Then people were like, 'Oh, clap back!' and I was like, I don't even know …?"