During a conversation with Newsweek, Eric Roberts revealed he “spent months correcting” his memoir, Runaway Train: Or, the Story of My Life So Far.
In the book, the actor—known for films such as Star 80 and Runaway Train—shared his regrets regarding how he handled parenting his daughter, actress Emma Roberts when she was a child. He also opened up about the public feud with his sister Julia Roberts, which included a “public apology.”
Roberts said it wasn’t intimidating to release his memoir to the world, stating matter-of-factly, “It’s just my life.”
“But what was intimidating was actually writing in the book, honestly, because as an actor, I’m kind of an instinctive embellisher, and my wife goes, ‘No, no, no, no, no, you can’t do that. This happened, but not like that, Eric,'” he told Newsweek.
“And so I would go fix things, and so I would go first draft really fast, really fast. I spent months correcting it, with embellishments and not enough—and just being more concisely honest,” he said.
“It was hard because I’m an actor, and we’re embellished troops. I won’t call us liars, but we’re embellished troops, and I had to fight that, and my wife is a great overseer of that. I wrote a very honest book.”
Eric Roberts attends the Los Angeles “Babylon” premiere on December 15, 2022. The actor spoke to Newsweek about his memoir.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images
The Hollywood star said that what he wrote was “only polite,” and he didn’t feel the need to reach out to those he wrote about before publishing.
“People, like my family, of course, I’m not gonna [say], ‘Can I talk about you in my book?’ I’m just gonna talk about—they’re my family, I have that right. They talk about me, they do, and we have their right with each other. And because, you know, we’re not mean to each other,” he explained.
Roberts said he didn’t write this book to shock people. He also explained that he wanted to show readers that he isn’t like the characters he plays.
“I just like playing those guys. And why I am so good at those crazy people is because they’re way away from me. I can see them, so I can see them three-dimensionally, and I can play them.
“But I am not that. And that’s what I hope to show. I [want] to everybody that I’m not Paul Snyder from Star 80, that I’m not Pauli Giovanni from Pope, you know, that I’m not the hitman from The Butcher, you know, and that, you know, I’m Eric, and I’m hanging out with a really cool dancer named Britt [Stewart].”
Roberts’ memoir coincides with him finally making his long-awaited Dancing with the Stars debut after first being asked to join the show 19 years ago. However, a scheduling conflict came up at the time, and he had to decline.
Now he is dancing alongside Britt Stewart, who first joined the show as a troupe member in Season 23 and remained in that role until Season 27. In Season 29, she made history as the first Black female professional dancer on the show.
Roberts told Newsweek he wished his book hadn’t been published until after the competition.
He added: “I wish my book were not published until [October], so this could be the last chapter because this would be a great closing chapter. But it’s gonna have to be the opening chapter of my next book if this book sells. So that’s what I’m aiming for now.”
