Julia Roberts' brother Eric apologizes for claim he 'made' her and reveals the 'great undoing' of their relationship
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: John Nacion/Getty Images/Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Chopard
Eric Roberts has opened up on the breakdown of his relationship with his sisters.
Family dynamics are never easy to navigate, and are presumably even more difficult if you and your siblings are in the spotlight.
Eric Roberts, 68, is the eldest of his siblings, and was born in 1956.
His sister Lisa - who has also dabbled in the film industry - was then born in 1965, with Sleeping with the Enemy star Julia following suit in 1967.
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Eric was the first of the three to shoot onto the movie scene and, as of this year, has starred in almost 800 films.
Some of these movies have earned the 68-year-old some very prestigious award nominations, including three Golden Globes and an Academy Award.
With him having had a foot in the door in Hollywood already, Eric claimed he later helped Julia get onto the career ladder too.
Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2018 about Julia and his American Horror Story star daughter Emma Roberts, Eric told the publication: "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 went on: "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."
In the years that followed the tell-all interview, Eric insisted that he and his sister have 'always been fine' amid reports they'd fallen out - but he now seems to have backtracked on his remarks and apologized to her.
In a excerpt of his upcoming memoir Runaway Train: Or, The Story of My Life So Far that's set to be released in the coming days, Eric wrote, as per MailOnline: "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'."
He continued: "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."
Elsewhere he speaks about the 'undoing' of his relationship with his sisters after falsely claiming that their mother died after their parents divorced.
"I'm only now beginning to realize the impact it must have had to Julie and Lisa, who were 11 and 13 years old, who were living with our mom but hearing their big brother... saying in public that their mom is dead," The Dark Knight actor penned.
"It was the great undoing of my relationship with my sisters. That I was unconcerned about them and focused only on my mom reading that I'd killed her off was such a selfish thing to have done."
UNILAD has approached Julia Roberts' reps for comment.