A complicated relationship. While Julia Roberts and her older brother, Eric Roberts, have a typical sibling bond now, that wasn’t always the case.
“Julia and I have always been fine,” Eric revealed during a June 2022 appearance on the “Behind The Velvet Rope With David Yontef” podcast. “I think years and years ago, I was doing a press tour for some movie … It was just when Pretty Woman [had been] released, and so they’re asking a bunch of questions about Julia. And I said, ‘Hey, excuse me. Can we talk about me?’”
He continued: “Suddenly … I keep hearing about [these issues] I have with my sister that I don’t [actually] have with my sister.”
Eric initially raised eyebrows in 2018 when he claimed he made Julia and his daughter, Emma Roberts, whom he shares with ex Kelly Cunningham, famous. In his 2024 memoir, Runaway Train: Or the Story of My Life So Far, he apologized for his past comments calling them “asinine.”
Scroll below for a complete timeline of the sibling’s dynamic:
April 1956
Before becoming an actor, Eric was born to parents Walter Grady Roberts and Betty Lou Bredemus.
October 1967
Two years after Lisa was born, the Ocean’s 11 actress completed the Roberts brood.
1990s
As both Eric and Julia navigated budding film careers, the limelight took its toll.
“I started having fun at the craft. I’m a f—g groupie for it! I can do it every day, all day. But then everybody started making fun of me, and I turned to Eliza with the question ‘Why?'” Eric recalled to Vanity Fair in 2018. “And so suddenly it’s like 250 movies, and I realize, I went from being a joke that’ll do anything to being, ‘Is there anything he can’t do?’”
During a panel interview in the early 90s, Eric made a sarcastic comment about the success of his sister’s film Pretty Woman that was taken out of context and treated with the utmost seriousness.
November 2004
Julia and her husband, Danny Moder, welcomed their twins, Hazel and Phinnaeus, that November, inviting Eric to meet the newborns shortly after childbirth. (Julia and Moder also share son Henry, who was born in June 2007.)
“I was ushered into their room and was immediately awash in brotherly and uncle-ly love,” the Runaway Train actor recalled to Vanity Fair, noting that the siblings have since spent multiple Thanksgiving holidays together and are frequent “e-mail buddies.”
January 2018
Eric told Vanity Fair that his drug addiction contributed to the drama with Julia. “I wouldn’t characterize it as a falling-out. I was crazy about my sisters. Loved them, adored them,” Eric said, referring to Julia and their sister, Lisa Roberts Gillian. “They were precious to me, and we had times of great closeness. We all felt very protective of each other, but the hardest person to protect yourself from is yourself. … I was exhausting to be around: complainy, blamey, unable to enjoy enjoyment. Everyone in my world needed a break sometimes, and that must have included Julia.”
Eric then claimed he helped put his sister and daughter’s names on the map.“If it wasn’t for me, there would be no Julia Roberts and no Emma Roberts as celebrities, as actresses, and I’m very proud of that. When Julia first came to New York, I went into William Morris and I said, ‘Which one of you is going to sign my sister Julia?’” he said. “And I am so proud that everybody knows I was first because I was first by a long shot. I was first to get Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, so I’m proud of that.”
May 2020
Eric exclusively told Us Weekly that he loves to see Julia bonding with his daughter, who look alike.
“It’s really cool to look at them. I love seeing them together,” Mississippi native gushed, noting that the Erin Brockovich star and Eliza frequently speak as well. “My wife and she talk every day. They’re on the email. They talk and I know what’s going on through her.”
Credit: David Fisher/Shutterstock; CAROLINE BREHMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
June 2022
Eric alleged during a “Behind The Velvet Rope With David Yontef” podcast appearance that their relationship has “always been fine” despite the headlines. He added that he says out of the way when it comes to Julia’s press and public persona. “And she stays out of mine. I mean, honestly, if you’re doing a movie of your own … and the press just wants to talk about any member of your family, it is kind of a little like, ‘Why?’” he said.
November 2022
During a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Eric was asked whether he’d do a father-daughter film with Emma. “Are you kidding, I would love that. I’d also love my sister to play my sister,” the Suits alum told the outlet of his real-life daughter and sibling.
July 2024
Eric alleged that he was instructed not to talk about Julia or his daughter, Emma, during interviews. When asked on the “Still Here Hollywood” podcast how Julia was doing, Eric quipped, “You’ll have to ask her. I love my sister, but I can’t talk about her. She [doesn’t] want to talk about it.”
Elsewhere in the interview he claimed, “My daughter told me not to talk about her, but I stumbled and do. I’m not supposed to talk about either of them. But I do.”
September 2024
Eric apologized for his claim that he made Julia famous in his memoir, Runaway Train: Or the Story of My Life So Far. “Now one of the things I’d like to apologize for in this book is for publicly saying on more than one occasion, ‘If it wasn’t for me, there would be no Julia Roberts,’” read an excerpt from the book via Entertainment Weekly. “That’s not only unfortunate, but it’s also untrue.”
He continued, “And I hope Julie will accept this more public apology. It was an asinine thing to have said. I was proud of her, but it was pride turned on its head, to my own advantage.” (Eric shared that his family calls the Oscar winner Julie.)
Source usmagazine.com
