Eric Roberts Apologizes to Sister Julia Roberts in His New Book for 'Asinine' Past Comments

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

The actor, 68, debuted a memoir titled Runaway Train: Or, The Story of My Life So Far on Sept. 17, and in one chapter he admits his past comments claiming he made his Oscar-winning younger sister famous were "asinine."

"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,' " writes Eric, who is competing on the latest season of Dancing with the Stars.

"That’s not only unfortunate, but it’s also untrue," added Eric, who refers to the actress as Julie in the book. "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."

Eric described Julia as a "very driven woman" and said someone would have "plucked her out of the crowd" for a Hollywood career without any help from him.

"On the other hand," he added in the 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’d probably have married a wealthy dude and lived a very different life. So 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.' "

"That’s when, it seems to me, she 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," he wrote.

Eric, Julia and sister Lisa, 59, are the children of Walter Roberts and Betty Lou Bredemus, who ran a progressive acting school for children in Atlanta. After th -

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eir parents divorced in 1971, their mom married Michael Motes. Julia and Lisa lived with them in Smyrna, Ga., along with their younger sister, Nancy Motes (the daughter of Betty and Michael). Eric stayed with Walter, who eventually died of cancer in 1977.

He moved to New York at age 17 to pursue acting and had early success in King of the Gypsies in 1978. Later, his role in 1985's Runaway Train earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

The past comments include when Eric, who is dad to actress Emma Roberts, told Vanity Fair back in 2018: “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?’ And 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."

Julia got her big break in 1988's Mystic Pizza. Launching her further to stardom was Steel Magnolias (1989) and Pretty Woman (1990), both of which earned her Oscar nominations. She eventually won Best Actress for the 2000 drama Erin Brockovich and added another nomination for 2013's August: Osage County.

On the ofStill Here Hollywoodpodcast 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 stumbled and do. ... I’m not supposed to talk about either of them. But I do."

Runaway Train: Or, The Story of My Life So Far is out now wherever books are sold.

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