Eric Roberts insisted his bond with daughter Emma Roberts is not as fraught as it may seem.
In the April 5 episode of Really famous with Kara Mayer Robinsonthe Running train actor addressed speculation of tension with American Horror Story star.
He said: “It’s only complicated with outside eyes because they don’t understand any of it. So they have their own take, whatever it is.”
The 69-year-old was quick to praise Emma, adding: “I’m so proud of my child.”
The actor admitted that he wasn’t in a good place emotionally when Emma was born, due to substance abuse.
“I was a washcloth,” he admitted. “I wasn’t supposed to depend on emotionally at all.”
Roberts called himself a “car wreck” at the time and said he now takes “full responsibility” for those fights.
Despite the difficulties, he recalled a life-changing moment at Emma’s birth: When he sang “Happy Birthday” to her, the newborn stopped crying and tried to find her face.
“It was magic,” he said. “And I always will.”
Roberts has been honest about the pain of losing closeness to Emma.
He called it the hardest period of his life.
“There is not a pain, there is a sadness over the most likely misunderstandings [that] I want that forever,” he said in a 2024 interview.
Although sober since 1995, Roberts explained that the birth of his grandchildren helped him accept this grief.
Emma shares 5-year-old son Rhodes with ex Garrett Hedlund, while Roberts has two other grandchildren through his wife Eliza’s children.
He noted that his eldest granddaughter “looks like Emma”, which gave him new perspective.
For Roberts, the bond with Emma remains defined by pride, love and the memory of their earliest connection.
It is a reminder that despite challenges, she will always be the light of his eyes.
