The famous Roberts siblings have been estranged for over ten years, lacking any meaningful communication. Julia Roberts is recognized as one of Hollywood’s premier talents—an actress whose name signifies cinematic quality, earning her universal acclaim from audiences, critics, and filmmakers alike.
Although Julia is the most celebrated, she is not the only actor in her family; her older brother, Eric Roberts, and her niece, Emma Roberts, also established successful acting careers.
Surprisingly, Julia maintains a loving, close bond only with Emma, choosing to deliberately keep her distance from Eric. This begs the question: What caused the profound split between the brother and sister? Let’s explore their history.
Eric and Julia were raised in an artistic environment, given that their father was a theater director and their mother was a stage performer. They shared a close relationship as children. Even after their parents divorced, splitting the family—with Eric moving in with their father and later studying abroad, while Julia remained stateside with their mother—their mutual affection persisted. Their father, Walter Roberts, hoped his son would become an actor. When Eric returned to the U.S. in the late 1970s, he quickly pursued a film career.
Starting with minor parts, he achieved significant recognition by the mid-1980s, particularly after his role in Runaway Train. Around this time, Julia also began exploring acting, naturally seeking guidance from her established older brother. Eric was busy with multiple projects, but his private life was chaotic. He battled substance abuse involving drugs and alcohol, and his romantic relationships were unstable.
Julia navigated her career path very differently. Unlike Eric, who often accepted nearly any available role, she was highly selective about her projects. This careful approach yielded spectacular results: after the 1990 release of Pretty Woman, she became a global star overnight. This sudden reversal of success fundamentally altered the siblings’ dynamic. For years, Eric had been the family’s more recognizable and experienced actor, but now Julia achieved worldwide fame, while Eric continued to primarily land secondary roles. Feeling overshadowed became an inevitable challenge for him.
The decisive breakup occurred in 1991. Eric’s daughter, Emma Roberts, was born to his partner, Kelly Cunningham, on February 10. Eric later admitted in his memoir that he struggled to embrace fatherhood from the start. When Emma was seven months old, Eric separated from Kelly. Due to his ongoing drug dependency issues, full custody was awarded to the mother. Julia fully supported this ruling, loving her niece and helping the court’s decision. Eric later wrote that he had no intention of contesting custody anyway.
Julia became a major support figure for Emma, often handling financial responsibilities, paying bills, and even purchasing a home for her niece. Emma spent extensive time with her aunt on various film sets, which ultimately inspired her own acting pursuits.
Despite the strain caused by Emma’s upbringing, Julia initially tried to maintain ties with her brother. However, things deteriorated permanently after Eric gave a controversial interview to Vanity Fair in 2018. In his comments, he strongly implied that his own influence was essential for the careers of both Julia and Emma. He claimed, “When Julia first came to New York, I marched into William Morris and asked, ‘Which one of you is signing my sister Julia?’ I’m proud people know I was the first.
I got the earliest Golden Globe and Oscar nominations in this family.” While Eric apologized for these statements in his 2024 memoir, the damage was irreversible. A source close to Julia indicated that she rejected his apology, noting, “The fact that he used her life to help sell his book is unforgivable. She would rather never speak to him again.”