Eric Roberts’ Wife Thought He Was Gay When They First Met But Now He Hates ‘Being Away From Her’

Jul 20, 2022 by apost team

There’s nothing quite like the Roberts’ smile in Hollywood, and it – whether Eric’s, Julia’s or Emma’s – can light up the small and big screen like no other.

But for eldest Eric Roberts, what really puts a smile on his face is his love for his wife, Eliza, and the couple shares an adorable love story spanning more than 20 years.

Eric was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, on Apr. 18, 1956, to a vacuum cleaner salesman dad and a church secretary and real estate agent mother. He made his feature film debut in 1978’s “King of the Gypsies,” drawing immediate acclaim and earning his first Golden Globe nomination. The popularity of films that followed, such as “Star 80,” “The Best of the Best,” “Blood Red” and “The Pope of Greenwich Village,” would make Eric a household name and an Oscar nomination for 1985’s “Runaway Train” would cement his star status in Hollywood.

But with great fame comes great responsibility. In much the same manner as the Hollywood bad boys of the early 1980s, Eric too fell into the dangerous cycle of abusing drugs. In 1987, Eric was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer and being in possession of cocaine and marijuana. Drugs would continue to play a part in his life for many years.

Eric was attached to actress Sandy Dennis for five years in the early 1980s before dating Kelly Cunningham a few years later. He and Cunningham had baby Emma, who would follow in the footsteps of her famous father and aunt Julia to become a Hollywood star.

But it was a chance meeting on an airplane that would seal the romantic fate for Eric.

Before they had ever met, Eric and casting director Eliza had heard of each other as they ran in similar Hollywood circles. On an MGM Grand airlines, Eric happened to be seated next to her. Both of them were holding scripts they had planned to read on the plane, but because they didn’t want to “talk shop,” they ditched the texts and got to talking for real. During the conversation, Eliza randomly asked Eric who his favorite screenwriter was, to which he replied, “David Rayfiel,” who happened to be Eliza’s father.

However, one small hunch had played on Eliza’s mind. She told Vanity Fair:

“So there were all these strange connections. … But I thought he was probably gay because he was very pretty and had a cat on his lap named Tender.”

Luckily for the two, that was not the case, and six years later, on Aug. 11, 1992, they walked down the aisle and have never looked back.

Though the pair do not have biological children of their own, Eric had Emma from his previous relationship, and Eliza had two children from a previous marriage. One of Eliza’s children, Keaton Simons, is a musician and plays in the band Brett Young Music. Her other child, daughter Morgan, veered away from the creative industry and owns a pie shop.

Having been married for 20 years and in love for far longer, many have quizzed Eric and Eliza on the secrets to their long-lasting relationship. They say for them, it's not always rainbows and butterflies.

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In the early years of their marriage, Eric was still abusing drugs, putting Eliza in a difficult situation. He said of his addiction back then:

“Everybody from executives to craft service was doing cocaine. I was doing it to the point where my wife said, ‘It’s me or the coke.’ I did all the psychotropics. I got myself arrested (in 1987). I went back to pot. I’ve been a pothead all my life, with several sober breaks I refer to as binge sobriety.”

Asked point blank in an interview on what had prompted Eric to ditch the habit, he pointed to his wife without hesitation. 

“Oh her! … You know it just became a choice, it was like you know (coke or Eliza) … ‘this drug is awful what are you doing, it's me or the drug.’”

After overcoming the struggle together, Eric and Eliza’s bond became stronger. Eric makes no effort to hide his affection for his wife, telling Closer Weekly:

“I was on a trip for only three days and I thought, ‘God, I hate being away from her!' … I can’t stand it, because I got old with her, this is my roommate, my pal, my confidante, my manager, the girl I kiss.”

Eliza, meanwhile, had gushed about her husband: “He’s had the bad-boy image from age 19 to 59, and still the crush-worthiness of him spans generations and genders.”

Since their “love at first script,” Eric and Eliza have built a beautiful and exciting life together, which now includes being grandparents to Emma’s first child, born on Dec. 27, 2020, with actor Garrett Hedlund.

We wish the happy couple the best, and if the past is anything to go by, they’re sure to make it through any struggles that may come their way.

What do you think of Eric and Eliza Roberts’s relationship? How cute was their first meeting on the plane? Let us know, and remember to pass this on to the couples and would-be couples you know!