JULIA ROBERTS - DID JULIA DECEIVE ABOUT DELIVERY DATE?

New mum JULIA ROBERTS reportedly duped the world's press with the real due date of her twins, so reporters and paparazzi wouldn't be hounding her as the delivery date approached.

Australian publication WOMAN'S DAY has learned that the actress' babies were actually due on 6 December (04) - a month before Roberts said they were expected in the New Year (05).

A friend tells the magazine, "She had fans hanging around the neighbourhood and people going through her trash (when she announced she was pregnant).

"Julia felt that if she let everyone, including many of her friends, believe that the babies were due in January, that's when the attention on her would be at its greatest.

"She never actually lied about the due date of her twins - newspapers just assumed it was January and she let them make that assumption."