Inside Emma Roberts' Strained Relationship With Her Father Eric

Emma Roberts has never shared a close relationship with her father, Eric Roberts. The "Runaway Train" star and Kelly Cunningham had been dating for about three years when she gave birth to Emma in 1991. The couple separated just seven months after their little girl's birth, and she went on to live under her mother's care. In Eric's 2024 memoir, "Runaway Train: Or, the Story of My Life So Far," he shared that although he was overjoyed about Cunningham's pregnancy and had insurmountable love for his baby girl after her arrival, he still "abandoned" them, per Entertainment Weekly. 

Eric shared that he "couldn't handle the realities of an infant coming into my life, and I couldn't handle being a parent!" The character actor explained that his inhibitions most likely stemmed from his drug use at the time. As a result, the question of Emma's custody was a no-brainer. Eric also stated that he never quite learned to be a "father figure." When the "Inherent Vice" actor appeared on the "Inside Of You" podcast in 2024, host Michael Rosenbaum asked him to share the roughest patch in his life. Eric asserted it was his falling out with the "Scream Queens" star, explaining, "There's not a pain. There's a sadness for the, most likely, misunderstandings we'll all have forever because we're human." In fact, he confessed that he couldn't detail their relationship in his memoir because he couldn't find the right words to describe it accurately.

Speaking on the "Still Here Hollywood" podcast in 2024, Eric Roberts shared that his daughter, Emma Roberts, requested he refrain from talking about her in interviews, but he just couldn't help himself sometimes. "The Dark Knight" actor gushed about Emma, saying, "I am in love with my daughter's work these days like I can't, I can't believe how great she's become," he continued. "I'm so proud of her I can't see straight." 

The Golden Globe nominee further asserted that he was in awe of everything his daughter had worked on since the 2023 rom-com "Maybe I Do." Likewise, in Eric's 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he stated that he had a blast watching Emma's stunning transformation into a phenomenal actor and believed her talents were made more impressive by the fact that she hadn't gone to acting school. He admitted that he would also love to be her on-screen father someday. 

Even in "Runaway Train: Or the Story of My Life So Far," the character actor gushed that Emma was a phenomenal mother to her son, Rhodes. In contrast, the "American Horror Story" star has remained entirely tight-lipped about her strained relationship with her father. Still, when Tatler asked her if she was "close" to Eric in 2022, she simply answered, "No, we're not." While she may have issues with Eric, Emma shares a close relationship with his sister, Julia Roberts.