Eric Roberts, the 70-year-old actor with more than 800 film and television credits, was absent when his daughter Emma Roberts married partner Cody John last month, despite the wedding drawing an array of famous guests.
Eric's estranged relationship with his sister, Julia Roberts, and his own 'complicated' bond with Emma have long been a subject of public interest.
Emma, 35, and Cody, 36, exchanged vows in Idaho. Emma's aunt, Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts, attended with her husband Danny Moder, alongside stars Demi Moore, Kristen Stewart and Sarah Paulson. Emma was walked down the aisle by her five-year-old son, Rhodes, whom she shares with ex-partner Garrett Hedlund.
In a statement to the Daily Mail, Eric said: "I love my daughter, always have, always will. It is perfectly wonderful for her to celebrate however she wants, with whomever she wants."
It remains unclear whether Eric was invited to the wedding. A source told the Daily Mail that longstanding friction between father and daughter was behind his absence.
"Emma did not invite her father to her wedding because she doesn't want to be around him," the source said. "No one told her to invite him to the wedding, they know better than to bring that up. She has been mad at him for many years, mostly because she feels he has not been a supportive father. He wasn't around when she was young."
Eric and Emma's 'Complicated' Bond
Eric's absence from the wedding came months after he addressed his relationship with Emma in an April interview with Really Famous with Kara Mayer Robinson, insisting it was not as complex as outsiders believed.
"It's only complicated to outside eyes because they don't get any of it, so they have their own take, whatever that is, and it's not a straight line because they aren't really involved," he said. "So it's just thoughts, possibilities, interests, fantasies, whatever it is. But it's not a real relationship with the subjects. So how can it be anything but a thought?"
Eric said he "was a wash rag" when Emma was born, describing himself at the time as "a car wreck because of many things" while taking "full responsibility" for it. When Kara pressed further, Eric declined to elaborate. "Probably, but that's not an issue and that's not anything I'm here to discuss with you," he said. "I mean, just it is what that is, but that's a whole other issue in my life. That's not what we're talking about today."
Custody Battle Over Emma
Eric had Emma with ex-partner Kelly Cunningham, but the couple split soon afterward and he lost the custody battle over his only child because of his admitted drug use. He has called the loss of custody the biggest consequence of his substance abuse.
In 2024, speaking on the Inside You podcast, Eric was asked about the toughest time of his life and answered: "Probably the loss of relationship with my daughter." Writing in his memoir, Runaway Train: Or the Story of My Life So Far, Eric described his bond with Emma as "indefinable," adding: "There's not a pain. There's a sadness for the, most likely, misunderstandings we'll all have forever. Because we're human."
Grandchildren Reveal What He Lost
Eric said becoming a grandfather helped him grasp the true scale of what he had lost with Emma. He has two step-grandchildren from his marriage to Eliza Garrett and a grandson, Rhodes, from Emma's relationship with Hedlund.
"I started accepting that about myself with the birth of my grandchildren. Especially the 5-year-old, she was first and she was a girl and took a liking to me in a very strong way," he said, adding that his eldest granddaughter "looks like Emma which reminds me of what I didn't have."
The Rift With Sister Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts, the Oscar-winning star of films including Pretty Woman and Erin Brockovich, sided with Kelly Cunningham during the custody battle, a decision Eric now says he agrees with.
In his memoir, Eric also issued a public apology to his sister for once saying: "If it wasn't for me, there would be no Julia Roberts." He wrote: "I hope Julia will accept this public apology. It was an asinine thing to have said."
The siblings had been close until Eric made a sarcastic remark in the early 1990s while discussing the success of Pretty Woman. He has always maintained the comment was taken out of context, repeating that defense in 2022 on the Behind The Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast.
"Julia and I have always been fine," he said. "I think years and years ago, I was doing a press tour for some movie... It was just when Pretty Woman just got released and so they're asking a bunch of questions about Julia. And I said, 'Hey, excuse me. Can we talk about me?'" He said the remark was misread as a feud: "Of course, then it's like, 'Oh, they have a problem.'"
Despite disagreeing "about a lot of things," Eric said the pair remain close. "I love knowing my sister," he said. "She's a cool chick, my sister. I just stay out of her hair with the press. That's all. Simple. And she stays out of mine."
Eric has said the only thing that ever caused a rift with his sisters Julia and Lisa was his past drug addiction. He told Vanity Fair: "I wouldn't characterize it as a falling-out. I was crazy about my sisters. Loved them, adored them. They were precious to me, and we had times of great closeness. We all felt very protective of each other, but the hardest person to protect yourself from is yourself." He added: "I was exhausting to be around: complainy, blamey, unable to enjoy enjoyment. Everyone in my world needed a break sometimes, and that must have included Julia."
Reconciliation and Staying Out of the Spotlight
Eric said the siblings reconciled in 2004 after years of estrangement, when Julia gave birth to twins Hazel and Phinnaeus. He visited the hospital "to drop off gifts," he said, "instead I was ushered into their room and was immediately awash in brotherly and uncle-ly love." Several Thanksgivings together followed, and the siblings became "email buddies."
In May 2020, Eric told Us Weekly he loved watching Julia and Emma together: "It's really cool to look at them. I love seeing them together."
Eric has said both Julia and Emma have asked him not to discuss them publicly. "I love my sister, but I can't talk about her. She doesn't wanna talk about it," he said. "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."
Despite their overlapping careers, Eric and Julia have appeared in only one film together, the 1989 Western Blood Red, in which they played brother and sister. Eric appeared destined for A-list stardom early in his career, a status since eclipsed by both his sister and his daughter, a shift he has attributed largely to his struggles with cocaine and marijuana, which he has said cost him key meetings with major directors.
