Sometimes what makes the headlines with celebrity fashion is not the immaculately crafted gowns and centre-stage moments, but ‘street style’ paparazzi photos instead.

That is exactly what happened with Julia Roberts’ controversial DIY T-shirt from 2002.

The award-winning actress was spotted having coffee in West Hollywood wearing a hand-made t-shirt that read ‘A Low Vera’; a seemingly benign outfit choice until you look at the backstory and her relationship drama that was unfurling at the time. Let’s rewind.

It’s the year 2000, Julia Roberts is filming on location with Brad Pitt for the movie The Mexican and while there, she meets cinematographer Danny Moder, and the two hit it off.

PIC: REX

The only downside being Roberts is already in a relationship and Moder is married. At the time, Julia was dating Benjamin Blatt and Danny Moder was with makeup artists Vera Steimberg, whom he had married in 1997.

They didn’t let their relationships stop the romance from blossoming, MailOnline notes how she once referred to him as her ‘hunk of burning love’, but, even during their courtship, Moder stayed married to Vera.

Moder moved out of his marital home six months after he and Julia met and even still, Vera Steimberg was reluctant to agree for a divorce. Enter Julia Robert’s infamous DIY T-shirt.

Nearly two years into their relationship, with Vera still refusing a divorce, Julia took business into her own hands. Appearing in busy West Hollywood, where surely paparazzi would see her, she donned a white T-shirt with a hand-made slogan that read ‘A Low Vera’ emblazoned across the chest.

JULIA ROBERTS WEARING THE ‘A LOW VERA’ T-SHIRT AS SHE STOPS FOR A COFFEE AT THE KING’S ROAD CAFE IN WEST HOLLYWOOD, MARCH 22 2002. PIC: GC IMAGES

She paired her T-shirt with a quintessential early-2000s ensemble of light-wash boyfriend denim jeans, simple black wool coat, chunky silver chain necklace and matching oversized silver belt.

Completing the look with a very of-the-era accessory — a flip phone.

A dig at Moder’s then-wife, or an attempt at a pun, Roberts has never formally discussed the rationale behind her outfit choice.

She commented briefly on the shirt when questioned by Oprah, only saying: ‘You know what that was about? It was private’, finishing with a short but sweet, ‘I stand by my T-shirt.’
TRENT SIMMONS, MERC ARCENEAUX, VERA STEIMBERG, AND CAROLINE MONGE, WINNERS OF BEST CONTEMPORARY MAKE-U FOR COMING 2 AMERICA, SPEAK ONSTAGE DURING THE 9TH ANNUAL MAKE-UP ARTISTS & HAIR STYLISTS GUILD AWARDS AT THE BEVERLY HILTON. PIC: GETTY IMAGES
But, it certainly did its job of ruffling a few feathers.

Vera and her family, who were close with the Moder’s were quite offended by her petty sartorial selection, with Danny’s sister Jyl even going so far as to call Julia a ‘Diva’, ‘rude’, and ‘possessive over Danny’ in a journal written while she was in rehab, as reported by RadarOnline.

That being said, it must have done the trick. Steimberg officially divorced Moder in June 2002, and not a month later he and Roberts tied the knot at a midnight ceremony at her ranch in Taos, New Mexico.