Drug torment of Oscar hopeful Julia
JULIA Roberts has revealed how two real-life family nightmares left her distraught while shooting her latest film.
She is being tipped for an Oscar for her portrayal of the mother of a heroin addict in blockbuster drama Ben Is Back.
But the role proved “painfully close to home” following her brother Eric’s confession earlier this year about his lifelong battle to beat drugs. Julia’s half-sister Nancy died of an overdose in 2014. It was ruled to be suicide.
Earlier this year her older brother Eric, 62, an actor with more than 70 film credits, confessed to a drug problem “lasting decades”. It had led to two arrests and three rehab stints.
He told Vanity Fair magazine he got hooked on cocaine when it was “sweeping through Hollywood”. Julia, 51 next month, added: “It was pretty intense when we were filming. If also left me feeling raw and brought a lot of deep personal emotions up to the surface.”
In the movie, which opens in the US in December and will come to the UK next year, her screen son returns from rehab on Christmas Eve.
Her character Holly then faces a heart-rending “tough love” ordeal to try to halt his further descent into addiction.