Julia Roberts, Michelle Obama to visit Vietnam for girl empowerment

Oscar-winner Julia Roberts will join former First Lady Michelle Obama in girls’ empowerment trip to Vietnam on December 9, foreign media reported.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama (left) and Julia Roberts. Photo: Charles Sykes

On Monday [December 3], the Obama Foundation announced the star’s companion with the former first lady for the Girls Opportunity Alliance.

Julia Roberts is among a few “special guests” that Michelle Obama said earlier invited “to meet with local girls’ education organizations and beneficiaries of programs that help adolescent girls reach their full potential through education,” the Obama Foundation said in a news release.

The purpose of the trip is explained by the fact that “more than 98 million adolescent girls aren’t in school, yet the evidence is clear: When girls get the opportunities they deserve, our whole world benefits,” Obama said on the Today show in October, in announcing the Vietnam trip.

“That’s why we’ve been working to lift up grassroots leaders and organizations around the world who improve girls’ lives every day.”

Obama said then that some of the “incredible stories” of the girls met on that trip would air on Today and YouTube Originals.

“I’m so excited,” Hager, 38, said on Today in October, reacting to news of the Vietnam trip.

“It’s an awesome opportunity to help shine a light on all of those that are helping keep girls in schools,” she said. “We know that if a girl stays in school, they are more likely to help lift up not only themselves but their communities, too.”

The Obama Foundation launched its Girls Opportunity Alliance last year. Since former President Barack Obama left office, his foundation with Mrs. Obama has been a major focus of their post-White House careers.

The Girls Opportunity Alliance aims to empower girls around the world through education. Other celebrities who have teamed up with Obama to promote the alliance include David Beckham, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman, and John Legend.

Mrs. Obama also released a best-selling memoir “Becoming” in November 2018, while he is working on his own presidential memoir that could be released next year.

The Obama Foundation is hosting its first-ever gathering of 200 civic leaders from Asia-Pacific in Kuala Lumpur from December 10 to 14, including Roberts’ talk with the former first lady.

On December 12, Julia Roberts will be on-stage for a conversation with Obama in Malaysia, moderated by Deborah Henry, a TV host and philanthropist.