Julia Roberts’ famous brother has revealed that he has been banned from discussing her in interviews.
Eric Roberts – father of Scream icon Emma Roberts – is definitely a superstar in his own right, having starred in more than 700 movies and TV shows over the course of his incredible career.
The siblings come from a very famous family and they caught the acting bug from parents Walter Grady Roberts and Betty Lou Bredemus.
He then went on to welcome Emma with ex Kelly Cunningham, and she followed suit, popping up in Scream Queens, American Horror Story, Space Cadet and many more.
Appearing on the Still Here Hollywood podcast, host Steve Kmetko took a moment to delve into Eric’s notable family life, but was quickly stopped in his tracks.
‘May I ask about Julia at all?,’ the presenter questioned, to which the Dark Knight star responded: ‘What do you want to know?’
When asked how she is, he quickly continued: ‘You’ll have to ask her. I love my sister, but I can’t talk about her. She doesn’t want to talk about it. My daughter told me also not to talk about her, but I stumble and do.
‘I’m not supposed to talk about either of them. But I do.’
However, he appeared to break his own rule when discussing his favorite performers in Hollywood, as he namedropped his daughter almost immediately.
‘I am in love with my daughter’s work these days. I can’t believe how great she’s become,’ Eric enthused. ‘I’m so proud of her, I can’t see straight. Since her performance in Maybe I Do until right now, she overwhelms me with pride and just, “Oh my God. Here she goes again.”
‘I’m just so happy to be her dad because she’s kicking ass, and I’m so proud.’
He was also quick to bat away the suggestion that he had ‘anything to do’ with Emma’s success, simply adding: ‘Absolutely nothing. Except I gave her that name.’
Eric’s remarks come after his daughter waded into the debate surrounding ‘nepo babies’ in the industry, vowing that her famous family have actually cost her jobs in the past.
The 33-year-old made a name for herself in the 2010s, starring in films such as Scream 4 and We’re the Millers, and becoming a star of TV series American Horror Story.
But her star might have risen higher if it wasn’t for her famous last name – at least, that’s how Emma sees it, sharing: ‘I’ve lost more jobs than I’ve gained from being in the business. People have opinions and sometimes maybe they’re not good opinions of people in your family.’
A nepo baby is a person working in the entertainment industry who is perceived to have benefited from the success of their parents (or other family members) in similar careers.
However, Emma insisted to Flaunt magazine that she’s anything but: ‘I’ve never gotten a job because of it, I know I definitely have lost a couple of jobs because of it.’
The Madame Web actress then referred to a 2022 article by the New Yorker whichcontained a picture that superimposed the faces of so-called nepo babies onto the faces of actual babies.
While Emma didn’t appear in this image, she still regarded it as a ‘cheap shot’: ‘Should I be offended? It was a cheap shot to put all the celebrity kids on the cover of a magazine on babies’ bodies.’
She continued: ‘Maybe the nepo baby conversation would’ve been a more interesting article written intelligently in Vanity Fair with nuance, but instead it was kind of this viral hating-on-people thing.’
Last month, Emma reminded everyone that none other than George Clooney is a nepo baby himself, with a famous aunt arguably giving him a leg-up into the industry.
‘Everybody loves the kind of overnight success story. And so if you’re kind of not the girl from the middle of nowhere that broke into Hollywood, there’s kind of an eye roll of like, “Well, your dad was this”,’ the actress told Table for Two.
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‘I always joke, “Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby? [His aunt] Rosemary Clooney was an icon”,’ she pointed out on the Table for Two podcast.
She then argued that women in the industry are more likely to be hit with claims of being a nepo baby, adding: ‘I feel like young girls get it harder with the nepo baby thing. I don’t really see people calling out sons of famous actors, not that they should be called out.’
Rosemary Clooney was a hugely popular actress and singer in the 1950s, with George making his first steps in the industry as a chauffeur to his aunt and other famous stars.
Emma also said in her interview that, while nepo babies get ‘a leg up’ in the industry, they still need to prove themselves and can struggle ‘if people don’t have good experiences with other people in your family’.
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