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,” the Dark Knight actor 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. They’re just popping up all over the place, and I’m asked about them as if they’re real issues. [I’d say,] ‘Oh, I wasn’t aware of that.’ … [It] blew up and blew up and became all these things it wasn’t and [there was gossip that] we don’t agree on a lot of things.”
Eric — who shares daughter Emma Roberts with ex Kelly Cunningham — went on to break down their typical sibling dynamic.
“My sister and I, though, we’ve always talked, we’ve always bitched. I’ve always had fun, [we’ve always] known each other. Simple as that,” the Star 80 actor, who wed Eliza Roberts in August 1992, said during the June 2022 podcast episode. “I love knowing my sister. She’s a cool chick, my sister. … She’s doing a lot of stuff and … I don’t ignore it. I just stay out of her hair with the press. That’s all. 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?’”
While Eric asserted their sibling bond is fine, he previously got candid on how his substance abuse struggles affected the twosome.
“I wouldn’t characterize it as a falling-out. I was crazy about my sisters. Loved them, adored them,” Eric told Vanity Fair in January 2018, referring to the Runaway Bride star and 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.”
Scroll below for a complete timeline of the sibling’s dynamic:
