Eric Roberts Makes 'Public Apology' to Sister Julia Roberts After Claiming He Made Her Famous

'It was an asinine thing to have said,' Eric Roberts wrote in a public apology to his sister Julia Roberts.

By Allison Schonter

Eric Roberts is publicly apologizing to his sister, Julia Roberts, after he made comments taking credit for her Oscar-winning career. In his new memoir, Runaway Train: Or, The Story of My Life So Far, released Monday, The Dark Knight actor opened up about the public feud with his sister, offering what he described as a "public apology" for his past "asinine" comments.

"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,'" Roberts wrote in one chapter of the book, per PEOPLE. "That's not only unfortunate, but it's also untrue. 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."

The apology comes years after Roberts, who is competing on the latest season of Dancing with the Stars, made the controversial remarks to Vanity Fair. Speaking to the outlet in 2018, the Runaway Train star claimed, "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." He added that he was "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."

In his memoir, Roberts described his famous sister as "very driven" and said "someone would have plucked her out of the crowd in a place like New York without my help." He did take credit for inspiring Julia and their two other sisters to move to New York, writing that "I will take credit, once I had broken away from my father (or thought I had) and moved to New York City, for telling my sisters, 'Come on up, girls; the water's fine.'" He said it was in New York that Julia "saw my life as a young actor in New York, and saw what I was doing for my livelihood, and she wanted to try it."

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Reflecting on their relationship, Roberts said his drug addiction struggles led to a difficult relationship with Julia and their other sister Lisa Roberts Gillan, sharing, "I wouldn't be surprised if they suffered from PTSD from when it was dangerous to be around me. Lisa and Julia needed love and protection – instead they got fear and uncertainty." 

He said that the "biggest consequence" of his addiction struggles was "losing" his daughter Emma Roberts, who he shares with his ex Kelly Cunningham. Julia supported Kelly in her custody battle against Roberts for Emma, with the actor writing that his sister made the right decision, writing, "I imagine I will remain as Julia's brother and Emma Roberts' dad for the rest of my life. 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."

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