Emma Roberts is a talented actress and singer known for her turns in Scream
Queens and American Horror Story. She's also famous for being the niece of the
iconic Julia Roberts. But just because she was born into the industry, that didn't mean
her rise to the top was all smooth sailing. This is the untold truth of Emma Roberts.
Emma Roberts remembers watching her famous aunt's work ever since she was a kid.
Telling Allure that she spent time on the set of Julia Roberts' Erin Brockovich, she added,
"I'd run and hide in her makeup trailer and hear,
'Where's Emma? It's time for bed! She has to go home!'"
It turns out acting really runs in the extended family. Her dad, Eric Roberts,
is an actor, and Emma's grandmother, Betty Lou, was an acting teacher in Georgia,
according to Los Angeles Magazine. But Emma claims this hasn't directly influenced her
skills. When Interview Magazine asked what she'd learned from her famous relatives, she said,
"I can't say I've really learned from them directly but obviously I love their movies."
"Your folks must be really proud, huh." In a 2015 interview with Glamour,
Emma talked about what it's like to make friends while navigating
the entertainment industry. She explained,
"To me loyalty is the biggest thing. I've done a serious clearing of people
who didn't treat me the way a friend should treat you."
"I choose my friends, and F.Y.I, you don't make the cut."
As if it wasn't hard enough to deal with a massive public break up with Evan Peters in 2019,
the women in her life just added to the pain. Emma confessed,
"I think I've cried more about breakups with girlfriends than I ever
have about boyfriends. […] [But] I only have girlfriends now who make me a better person."
Emma seems to have found a special group of friends,
and the actress revealed they enjoy typical slumber parties and reality TV.
"I used to sleepwalk as a kid, but luckily I grew out of it."
Emma revealed to Cosmo in 2019,
"Anytime I have girlfriends come over we obviously stay up all night […] binging The Bachelor. […] We
all got into bed and stayed up probably until like four something, finishing it."
Emma is known for her chic sense of style. And fans love to track the tattoos she's
acquired over the years. One appears on her rib cage, and as she told Collider,
"I have a half moon tattoo for a couple reasons,
but one of them is Steve Nicks. […] [She's] definitely someone that I love to work with."
Another of her tattoos comes with a funny story. In 2016, Roberts admitted to Refinery29,
"Most recently, though, one of my best friends and I - on a whim - got tattoos
in New York. That was a pretty unexpected night!"
"Please no fire-breathing dragons or knives."
Two years later, Roberts posted a photo of a small horseshoe design with the caption,
"Little luck from the best."
It appears Roberts has even inspired others to get inked. According to Celebrity Net Worth,
she dated actor Alex Pettyfer from 2007 to 2008, during which time he reportedly,
quote, "got her initials tattooed on his wrist." Growing up alongside some of Hollywood's biggest
names might sound like a fairy tale. But for Emma, the journey included some darker moments.
The actress faced many setbacks in her acting career and personal life, telling Allure,
"I still remember when I didn't get the part of
Wendy in the movie Peter Pan - that was my only devastation."
Roberts recalled her mom suggesting that she should focus on school and quit the
acting hustle. But determined to go for it all, Roberts said,
"No! I want a shot at glory!"
"Everyone's like, 'What was your inspiration?'
And it was these PopTarts commercials that I would see when I was younger."
While the actress went on to big time career success,
she discovered that rejection is part of the job, too. She later told Interview Magazine,
"I've had a lot of failures as well and rejection. It's actually mostly rejection but people think
it's mostly success because they only see your successes - the films that get made."
It turns out Roberts is quite the bookworm. In 2014, the actress revealed to Refinery29,
"I try to read a book every couple of weeks because it
keeps your memorization good and improves your attention span."
And thanks to a cross-country friendship, Roberts' literary love grew even stronger. The
actress lived in Los Angeles, and her friend Karah Preiss was based in New York. Roberts told Vogue,
"We'd always be sending each other books in the mail and writing little notes on them.
It just became the center of our friendship, exchanging recommendations and discussing them."
"Probably when I'm hanging out with my girlfriends or I’m reading a really,
really good book, I feel like those are the two things that make me so happy."
The two friends realized this process could appeal to a wider audience,
and recognized there was no one-stop-shop for recommendations. This led to the pair founding
the read-sharing site Belletrist - or, as Roberts described it,
"Two young women who are just trying to share stories with the world. […] You
just need that sense of curiosity and to want to be introduced to new
stories that you might not have read otherwise."
You might not think of Roberts as someone who's obsessed with food,
but the actress is in fact quite the gourmand. In an interview with Shape, she revealed that her
time in New Orleans while shooting American Horror Story: Coven sparked her appetite. She explained,
"I really fell in love with the food there.
I'd have fried-chicken sliders at night and then go to my yoga class the next morning."
"I am a future network news anchor. Who's super classy, and has almost no fat on her body."
Of course the actress makes heath-conscious choices for many meals, but that doesn't
stop her from indulging once in a while. Roberts confessed,
"I also love cupcakes, ice cream, and Sidecar Doughnuts. […] Sometimes
I bring sweets for everyone at work as an excuse to eat them."
She also holds a special place in her heart for a classic breakfast,
telling CN Traveller that while on stay-cation at The Beverly Hills Hotel,
"I often have breakfast at the counter. I'm obsessed
with the pancakes and chocolate-chip waffles."
Roberts expressed similar sentiments to The New York Times, noting that while
she generally reaches for healthy options, she does have a bit of a sweet tooth. She revealed,
"I always have Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Swedish Fish on set because I have to
have something to look forward to." Two of Emma Roberts' most popular roles
found the actress in the horror genre; American Horror Story and Scream Queens.
She revealed her secret to landing the thrillers, telling Los Angeles Magazine,
"I'm scared of everything. […] I've always been the person screaming. I'm always freaked out:
'Someone's under the bed!' 'What is that noise outside?' I've always had anxiety. Always."
"You gotta keep your eyes wide and scream like someone spilled wine on your Chanel bag."
Roberts also starred in the 2011 reboot Scream 4, telling PopSugar that she watched
the previous films to study, but mostly with her eyes closed. And once filming started,
not even behind-the-scenes movie magic provided any peace of mind. She admitted,
"I was scared while we were shooting most of the time!"
"What's your favorite scary movie?"
All that said, books appear to be a happy exception for Roberts. She revealed that
while shooting American Horror Story, she read Shutter Island and The Shining,
telling Vogue she happily dove deep into the horror and thriller genres.
Still, we're guessing she'll probably never watch the movies.
When it came to American Horror Story: Coven, Roberts got her chance to join
the already successful series in its third season. But her role turned out to be much
more fruitful than she had originally anticipated. She revealed to Collider,
"I was only supposed to be in a couple of episodes [and not the full season]. And then,
it just kept going and going and going."
"This is Madison Montgomery. She's famous."
"Well, we don't have TV or internet."
Roberts made the most of the opportunity and turned this short run into one of her most
successful roles - five seasons in total, as of 2020. But life on set appears to be
another reason Roberts stuck around for so many episodes. She revealed,
"It's so fun! Sometimes Sarah [Paulson] and I just start laughing and get laugh
attacks because we are struck by the absurdity of what we have to do."
According to one particular anecdote, Roberts was video chatting with friends but, quote,
"forgot that [she] was covered in blood." This freaked out her buddies,
unsurprisingly. Roberts explained how it was just another day on the job, joking,
"I didn't realize you needed a heads up that I literally had blood all
over my face. I'm just working." On the set of the movie Adult World,
Roberts recalled catching feelings for her co-star, Evan Peters. But as she admitted
on Chelsea Lately, her attempts at seducing him didn't necessarily go as planned. She remembered,
"I would try to, like, flirt with him, which ended up looking like I had something in my eye."
"It was a sign. Literally and figuratively."
Peters shared a similar story about how he also felt awkward trying to flirt with Roberts on set.
But it turned out that the pair's unconventional methods worked, and the two actors started dating.
Sadly, as it sometimes goes in Hollywood, the whirlwind romance included two engagements
followed by a devastating breakup in 2019. Roberts admitted to Cosmo,
"I never want to talk about relationships I'm in or that are ending or have ended.
It's hard enough to be with someone by yourself, let alone with an audience."
Roberts further detailed to Los Angeles Magazine what it's like to
fall in love with someone under the watchful eye of the public, saying,
"Relationships are hard enough between two people, let alone two people and the entire internet.
[…] Do people photoshop their face over yours with your boyfriend? It's just a weird thing."
But the actress confessed she does understand where the universal appeal comes from, adding,
"When I was growing up, I was obsessed with celebrity couples.
It's just not as fun when it's you." Among her many talents, Roberts is known
for her sense of fashion, and has incorporated her well-curated fashion style as part of an
overall brand. She then earned her crown after her fashionable turn in Scream Queens. But before
all of that, she developed her passion at a young age. She told Fashion Magazine in 2017,
"I would always be on the Internet looking at pictures of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen
and Sienna Miller, trying to copy their style. When I got my first big job,
I saved up my money to buy a Balenciaga purse - just because the Olsen twins had it."
In a 2019 Getty Images profile, Roberts - alongside buddy Amanda
Seyfried - talked about one of her first material aspirations. Roberts recalled,
"I remember every time I saw a girl wearing a Fendi baguette,
I would be coveting it. And then when I saw it on Sex and the City I was like, 'I need one!'"
Still, Roberts told Refinery29 that she preferred
Tumblr over other celebrities for inspiration, explaining,
"I'm more interested in real people street style than I am in celebrity style."
"When running away from a killer, think sample sale at Barney's. Motivation."
The actress also claims to have a taste for eclectic
pieces that might not appeal to everyone. She revealed to Cosmo,
"I actually collect vintage nightgowns. Some of them get more laughs than others. […] Some of
them look very old time-y." Her famous relatives aside,
Roberts earned her own way in Hollywood - and the big pay day that goes along with it.
Throughout her career, she released an album, starred in movies and TV series,
and expanded her reach even further with her book discovery blog - all before the age of 30. And
thanks to that, Celebrity Net Worth estimates Roberts has a cool $25 million, as of 2020.
"I really almost dropped dead."
With her fortune, the actress enjoys passing the time in stylish accommodations. In 2010,
when she was just 19 years old, she purchased a $1.25 million home, according to Variety.
Six years later, Roberts sold the property to her American Horror Story co-star,
Sarah Paulson. And by 2018, the actress had upgraded her resume, celebrity status,
and then her home, once again. The star reportedly paid a little over $4 million for a…
"1920s Mediterranean tucked into the swanky,
gated and celeb-favored Laughlin Park enclave in L.A.'s Los Feliz area."
When she's not buying cushy properties in California,
Roberts enjoys spending money on self-care and self-improvement. She told Shape,
"If someone recommends something, I'll buy it no questions asked because I love beauty products."
But considering Emma and her boyfriend, actor Garrett Hedlund,
announced they had a bun in the oven, in September 2020,
we suspect Roberts will find every reason to spend some serious cash on her little one, too.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite celebs are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.