Julia Roberts has sought advice from Meryl Streep's daughter on what it was like having a famous parent.

The Oscar winning actress made the disclosure in the April issue of Vanity Fair where she recalled speaking to Grace Gummer, 25 on life in the spotlight as a little girl.

The two ladies worked together on the movie Larry Crowne where they had the opportunity to speak in detail about growing up in a famous family.

"Grace comes up and goes, Gosh, it's so sweet seeing all your kids on the set. It reminds me of when I was little, and I would go see my mom at work,'" Julia recalled from the conversation.

"I asked, Were you happy?' Suddenly, I thought, here is a source of information. I asked, How old were you when you realised your mom was Meryl Streep?' She said, I think I was probably nine when I put that all together.'

"I said, Were you cool with it?' She said, Yeah, it was fine. There was no trauma.' So that was hopeful."

Julia is currently raising her three children; twins Hazel and Finn, seven, and Henry, four, out of the spotlight in New Mexico with cameraman husband Danny Moder.

She added that her kids notice other people pointing at her sometimes but are still clueless about the level of fame their mother has.

The Pretty Woman star, 44, conceded that being a young starlet in Hollywood now is much different than when she started out.

"There's the express elevator and there's rehab," Julia said. "It's so awful; nobody gets a fair trial-and-error period that everybody deserves and everybody needs."