Julia Roberts' abuse claim fury
JULIA Roberts was yesterday said to be “deeply upset” over fresh claims by her actor brother that he was beaten and abused by their mother as a child.
Eric Roberts, 54, nominated for an Oscar in 1986 film Runaway Train, stunned viewers of US reality TV show Celebrity Rehab.
In one tearful scene, he told drugs counsellor Dr Drew Pinsky: “I had real physical abuse in my life.
“I learned how to take it, where I didn’t scream, I didn’t yell.”
Six years ago in a biography about Julia, he told author James Spada that for years their mother Betty “beat the hell” out of him.
Marijuana addict Eric did not name Betty in his TV meltdown but Oscar-winner Julia, 43, is said by friends to be “angry and upset” that he has reopened “old family wounds”.