Eric Roberts Apologizes to Sister Julia Roberts After Taking Credit for Her Oscar-Winning Career: ‘It Was an Asinine Thing to Say’
Eric Roberts is apologizing to sister Julia Roberts in his new memoir, “Runaway Train,” after he made comments taking credit for her illustrious and Oscar-winning career. As Eric infamously told Vanity Fair in 2018: “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.”
“And I am so proud that everybody knows I was first, because I was first by a long shot,” he added at the time. “I was first to get Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, so I’m proud of that.”
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Now Eric is making a retraction, writing in his memoir (via People): “I hope Julia will accept this public apology. It was an asinine thing to say.”
Eric adds in the novel that it was his drug use that played a huge role in damaging his relationship to his sisters Julia, Lisa Roberts Gillan and Nancy Motes.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they suffered from PTSD from when it was dangerous to be around me,” Roberts writes. “Lisa and Julia needed love and protection – instead they got fear and uncertainty.”
“Of course, the biggest consequence of my drug use was losing Emma,” he adds regarding the custody battle over his daughter, actor Emma Roberts, who he shares with Kim Cunningham.
“I imagine I will remain as Julia’s brother and Emma Roberts’ dad for the rest of my life,” he writes. “I’d like to make good on that, to move aside proudly and with grace. That’s part of the reason for writing the book.”
In his interview with Vanity Fair in 2018, Eric admitted that “I was exhausting to be around” as a young man, adding: “Complainy, blamey, unable to enjoy enjoyment. Everyone in my world needed a break sometimes, and that must have included Julia.”
During an appearance on the “Still Here Hollywood” podcast earlier this year, Eric revealed that Julia does not want him talking about her. “I love my sister, but I can’t talk about her. She [doesn’t want me] to talk about it.”
Eric’s memoir, “Runaway Train,” is now available for purchase.
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