Eric Roberts apologizes to his sister Julia Roberts for “stupid” comments in the past

In his new book, Eric Roberts apologizes to his sister Julia Roberts for previously taking credit for her success.

The 68-year-old actor published his first autobiography entitled Runaway Train: Or the story of my life so far on September 17, and in one chapter he admits that his earlier comments about making his Oscar-winning younger sister famous were “idiotic.”

“One of the things I want to apologize for in this book is that I have said publicly more than once, 'If it weren't for me, there would be no Julia Roberts,'” writes Eric, who worked on the latest season of Dancing with the stars.

“It's not only unfortunate, it's also untrue,” added Eric, who calls the actress Julie in the book. “And I hope Julie will accept this public apology. It was a stupid thing to say. I was proud of her, but it was pride turned on its head, for my own benefit.”

Eric described Julia as a “very determined woman” and said that someone would have “picked her out of the crowd” for a Hollywood career even without his help.

“On the other hand,” he added in his memoir, “I was born to do this. I moved to New York City when I wasn't even old enough to drink a beer in public. If Julie had stayed in Atlanta, she probably would have married a rich guy and had a very different life. So I take credit for telling my sisters, 'Come on up, girls, the water's good,' when I broke away from my father (or thought I had) and moved to New York City.'”

“At that time, it seems to me, she saw my life as a young actor in New York and saw what I did for a living and she wanted to try it,” he wrote.

Eric, Julia and sister Lisa, 59, are the children of Walter Roberts and Betty Lou Bredemus, who ran a children's acting school in Atlanta. After their parents divorced in 1971, their mother married Michael Motes. Julia and Lisa lived with them in Smyrna, Georgia, along with their younger sister Nancy Motes (Betty and Michael's daughter). Eric stayed with Walter, who eventually died of cancer in 1977.

At the age of 17, he moved to New York to become an actor and had early success in King of the Gypsies in 1978. Later, his role in 1985 Runaway train earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Comments in the past include when Eric, the father of actress Emma Roberts, said Vanity Fair in 2018: “Without me, there would be no Julia Roberts and no Emma Roberts as celebrities, as actresses, and I am very proud of that.”

“When Julia first came to New York, I went to William Morris and asked, 'Which one of you is going to sign my sister Julia?' And I'm so proud that everyone knows I was the first, because I was the first by a long shot. I was the first to be nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar, and I'm proud of that.”

Julia had her big breakthrough in 1988 Mystical PizzaHer further path to fame was Magnolias made of steel (1989) and Pretty woman (1990), for which she received both Oscar nominations. She eventually won the award for Best Actress for the drama Erin Brockovich and added another nomination for 2013 August: Osage County.

On the Still here, Hollywood Podcast in July, Eric said: “I love my sister, but I can’t talk about her. She [doesn’t] want to talk about it.” He added that Emma, ​​33, also “told me not to talk about her, but I tripped up and did. … I shouldn't talk about either of them. But I do.”

Runaway Train: Or the story of my life so far is now available wherever books are sold.