Erin Brockovich - The Sun
Erin Brockovich feature article in The Sun
Legal clerk Erin Brockovich became an American heroine when the movie carrying her name portrayed her real-life fight against water contamination in the tiny town of Hinkley, California.
The single mum of three delved into the practices of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and uncovered a systematic cover-up of industrial poisoning that made dozens in the community ill.
She went on to win one of the biggest environmental cases ever settled in court - securing £216million split between more than 600 residents in 1996.
Julia Roberts, 42, won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Erin, complete with push-up bra, tight skirt and colourful language.
But ten years after the movie thrust the real-life heroine into the spotlight, Erin has revealed the experience was actually a curse.
While the campaigner was basking in her new-found fame and publicising her cause, her youngest daughter Elizabeth, now 19, became addicted to cocaine and prescription drugs.
Erin has had to put up with abuse from strangers over her image and private life.
She has also battled personality problems since the movie turned her life upside down.
Erin - who sold her story to Hollywood bosses for a reported £65,000 - revealed: "Since the movie came out it's been very hard. It was my curse.
"The film was a lot about the case but there was so much of my personal life in there too. I really didn't know that a lot of my life was going to be in there - me, the children, my romance at the time with George the biker guy.
"I was going to premieres, doing publicity, appearing in magazines, on TV.
"None of those things were in my life or my world before the film.
"I wasn't looking for them or anticipating them - it was an enormous change.
"It's been harder on me than people realise. I found it difficult to cope with the attention, difficult that people were judging me and making comments."
Erin's daughter Elizabeth started taking drugs aged 12 and was hooked on cocaine and prescription pills by the age of 14.
Elizabeth has previously revealed: "When the movie came out, Mum was gone all the time, either on appearances or interviews or lecturing. That was my time to go crazy.
"I would ditch school, I was driving around with kids who were under the influence. I hid it all because my mum is Erin Brockovich."
After treatment in rehab, Elizabeth is now clean and has rebuilt her relationship with her mother. But Erin admits the experience still haunts her.
She said: "Elizabeth had drug issues and she is open about why.
"I was travelling with the movie and she got into some trouble.
"She has always recognised that I was a working parent and appreciated I went out to work so the kids could have a home and a life.
"But I think it hit her when the movie came out and I was gone for about 18 days. She was able to con the nanny and get away with stuff that she would not have got away with otherwise.
"After she came out of rehab the first time, she and some friends did some acid and videotaped it and left the video camera in her bedroom. And we found it.
"If a picture is worth a thousands words, that just told me she definitely had a problem, and an in-patient programme was definitely where she needed to be.
"I try not to beat myself up but I would be lying if I told you I didn't feel guilty, that I didn't cry, that I didn't blame myself."
While Erin is happy the movie raised awareness of environmental issues - which went on to become a hot news topic in the decade that followed - nothing could have prepared her for the cruel personal attacks.
Speaking from her home near Los Angeles, she said: "The main negative from the movie was people's judgments and criticisms. I would get comments like 'shut your mouth' or 'cover your boobs'.
"You try not to let those things bother you but they creep back in at night. And some of it can be very, very hurtful.
"I found it extremely difficult being compared to Julia Roberts and I find that sometimes it's more than I can bear.
"I feel a change in my personality when I am snappy or I get withdrawn and I am experiencing that even today, even more so than back then.
"The name Erin Brockovich is now pretty broad. It means a lot of things to a lot of different people.
"I wasn't expecting that - it's not just the environment issues. It has become about the bustier, the foul mouth...
"I am getting a little more uncomfortable with that picture. And that has been the hardest thing."
Erin has gone full circle in the past ten years and is now back working with a law firm fighting for green causes.
The attorney she was working for on the Hinkley case, Ed Masry - played by Albert Finney in the movie - passed away in 2005 and his death made Erin stop to re-evaluate her life.
She decided to step out of the limelight and focus full-time again on battling environmental issues.
Shortly after Masry died, Erin began working with another legal firm in LA.
She said: "There will never be another Hinkley for me, here in my back yard.
"I can't focus on just one environmental issue. And it's not just in the US - it's a global problem.
"That's why I am now working with a firm in Australia and I am aware of situations in Ireland, Greece, Italy, South Africa, China...
"I think we are all seeing this big world really becoming very small and we are all sharing the same problem."
Roberts famously forgot to thank Erin in her Oscar acceptance speech, but that has been the least of her worries.
And Erin admits she has had no contact with Roberts since the movie finished filming - though she would love to meet the actress to mark the tenth anniversary of the film.
Erin said: "I think there are some things we could do for the ten-year anniversary.
"I'd love to know if there was anything about the role and the movie that changed Julia's life and helped her."
The movie certainly changed Erin's life - but whether it really helped her is debatable.
- http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/2936189/How-movie-fame-changed-my-life.html