The Hollywood icon and Academy Award-winning actress Julia Roberts has been deeply entrenched in the world of entertainment. She was born into a family where fame was not a stranger due to her older siblings, Eric Roberts and Lisa Roberts Gillan, who have been acclaimed actors in their own right. The family tree doesn’t stop there, as her niece, Emma Roberts, also went on to be a successful actress.
However, her well-known family has also been marked by complexity, and these complexions took a toll on her half-sister, Nancy Motes, who tragically passed away in 2014.
Julia Roberts’ Sister Passed Away From a Drug Overdose
Julia Roberts‘ mother, Betty Sue Bredemus, had another daughter, Nancy Motes, with her second husband, Michael Motes. He was reportedly abusive and often unemployed, and the two divorced in 1983. Following their split, Bredemus did her best to raise her three daughters.
While Lisa Roberts Gillan and Julia Roberts found success in the film industry, their half-sister Nancy Motes faced challenges not shared by her siblings. In February 2014, she was found unresponsive in a Los Angeles home where she was pet-sitting.
While the circumstances initially suggested a drug overdose followed by drowning, a handwritten note left by Motes indicated the possibility of suicide. According to Daily Mail, Motes expressed feelings of abandonment by her family in her note, pointing fingers at her mother and siblings.
“My mother and so-called ‘siblings’ get nothing except the memory that they are the ones that drove me into the deepest depression I’ve ever been in,” the note published by Daily Mail said. However, before her passing, Julia Roberts became the center of her late sister’s accusations.
Nancy Motes Claimed Her Sister Discouraged Her From Pursuing an Acting Career
In her letter, Nancy Motes implied that there was a deep emotional strain within the family. However, in her earlier interviews, she accused the Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts of engaging in body-shaming behavior towards her.
“When I was in high school, and she was an adult, she would just let me know that I was definitely overweight,” she told the New York Daily News. As per Daily Mail, Motes also took to Twitter to express her grievances with her sister, saying, “Just so you all know ‘America’s Sweetheart’ is a B***H.”
Following in her older siblings’ footsteps, she also went to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career of her own. However, she was not supported by her sister, who told her that she was too overweight to join the industry. “Julia did not want to see me go down that path,” Nancy Motes said before adding, “Mostly because I was overweight.”
However, Roberts helped Motes get a job as a production assistant on the hit TV show Glee. But moving to Los Angeles only led her into deep depression. Despite several claims, Motes suggested that she has resolved her relationship with her sister, as she denied claims about Roberts not joining her wedding, which was scheduled to take place in May 2014.
