Yahoo Lifestyle Emma Roberts Shared The Lessons She Learned From Growing Up Around Julia Roberts’s “Scary” Level Of Fame
Emma Roberts has no interest in reaching the same “scary” levels of fame as her Oscar-winning aunt.
If the last name wasn’t enough of a clue, Emma is Julia Roberts’s niece.
Her dad is Julia's brother, Eric Roberts, who is also an actor.
From playing dress-up on the Erin Brockovich set to being cast as an extra in America’s Sweethearts, Emma’s historically made no secret of the fact that she learned a lot about the industry by tagging along with her aunt throughout her childhood.
“I’d write the wardrobe tags and organize the makeup brushes and watch how they did their continuity books,” she told Tatler magazine in 2022. “I would ask questions without a filter. This industry really is ‘learn as you go.’”
By the age of 8, Emma was inspired to get into acting, too, and she soon landed a role in her first movie, Blow, alongside Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz, when she was only 9 years old.
As she got older, she moved on to teen movies like Aquamarine, Wild Child, and Nancy Drew. Although she’s perhaps best known for her work with Ryan Murphy, having starred in Scream Queens and numerous seasons of American Horror Story.
Emma has previously brushed off comparisons between herself and Julia, telling Tatler that she “never aspired” to replicate her aunt’s career path. “I love her so much, I love her work, but I’m just doing my own thing,” she said.
Now, the 33-year-old is doubling down on her stance, admitting that she does not envy her Aunt Julia’s fame after witnessing the scrutiny that comes with it.
“It’s obviously fun, and it’s great, but there is a part of it that’s really scary,” she said during the latest episode of iHeartPodcasts’ Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi, where she recalled seeing “very up close” what mega-fame “really looks like.”
“I’ve always wanted to carve my own path of not just, like, straight-ahead, be a big movie star, but do stuff that’s creatively fulfilling,” she said. “Because to me, fame has never been the goal.”
“Fame at a certain level is kind of scary,” she reiterated. “And I remember [thinking] as a kid, even in my later teens, I never want my fame to outweigh my work because there’s nothing scarier to me than being so famous that you’re never left alone.”
“When you’ve seen fame like that up close, and you see what that really does to people and to their families… it’s scary sometimes,” she added.
At the start of this year, Julia appeared on the cover of British Vogue and reflected on being perceived as “harsh” or “difficult” to work with earlier in her career.
“I think I speak very plainly,” she told the outlet. “That’s kind of how I see myself. I’m very forthright. There are a lot of personalities in the world that don’t accept that easily, and it can seem really harsh, even if I feel like I’m just being honest about something and just saying this is how I see it. I never am trying to be unkind.”
You can listen to Emma’s full appearance on the Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi podcast here.
Emma Roberts Spoke Out About Growing Up With A Famous Aunt And Watching Her On SetsAndria Moore · Jan. 29, 2022
Julia Roberts Insisted On A Seriously Savvy Script Change When Filming “Notting Hill” To Increase The Value Of Her Subsequent Movie OffersStephanie Soteriou · Jan. 12, 2024
Ariana Grande’s Seriously Awkward “Scream Queens” Interview With Emma Roberts Has Resurfaced Online And Fans Think You Can “Cut The Tension With A Knife”Stephanie Soteriou · May 9, 2023
