Eric Roberts is revealing the toughest time in his life. During an appearance on the Inside of You podcast, Eric cited “the loss of relationship with my daughter” as the hardest thing he’s gone through.
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Eric and his ex, Kelly Cunningham, welcomed Emma Roberts in 1991. The actor said of his estranged relationship with the 33-year-old, “There’s a sadness for the most likely misunderstandings we’ll all have forever because we’re human.”
Eric noted that the arrival of his grandchildren has shown him what he missed as a dad to Emma. The former Dancing With the Stars contestant is a grandad to three, two from his stepchildren with his wife, Eliza Roberts, and one from Emma. The Scream Queens alum welcomed a son, Rhodes, with her ex, Garrett Hedlund, in 2020.
“It reminds me of what I didn’t have,” he said of spending time with his grandkids. “That might be the most painful, personally. Might be.”
Eric Roberts’ Memoir Reveals
The podcast appearance came one month after Eric released his memoir, Runaway Train: or, The Story of My Life So Far. In the book, Eric wrote about his strained relationship with his now-grown daughter.
“I loved my little daughter with the strength of Hercules, despite my own weaknesses. However, I couldn’t handle the realities of an infant coming into my life, and I couldn’t handle being a parent!” he wrote, per Entertainment Weekly. “I’m still not a father figure. Emma, on the other hand, certainly knows what that role is — now grown up and a mom herself. She’s that person to her first child, Rhodes.”
“I never saw myself as someone who deserved to have physical custody of Emma, not in a million years,” he continued. “We both knew better than that. Kelly never claimed I was trying to get physical custody of Emma. There really was no custody fight.”
Eric further noted that he’s “very happy to be straightening this out right now.”