Eric Roberts Shares Who’s Supporting Him in ‘DWTS’ Audience After Family Feud

Eric Roberts has told Newsweek who is supporting him in the audience as he competes on Dancing With the Stars after a family feud saw his relationship with sister Julia Roberts break down.

Eric—known for films such as Star 80 and Runaway Train—has finally made his long-awaited Dancing With the Stars debut after first being asked to join the show 19 years ago. Unfortunately at the time, a scheduling conflict came up, and he had to decline.

This year, celebrities competing for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy include Eric, alongside Family Matters actor Reginald VelJohnson competing with pro Emma Slater; Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks partnered with Val Chmerkovskiy; Olympic rugby star Ilona Maher competing with Alan Bersten; and many more.

Eric has shared that his wife—casting director and actress Eliza Roberts—will be supporting him every night, but he did not mention his famous sister nor his actor daughter, Emma Roberts.

Newsweek emailed spokespeople for Julia and Emma Roberts for comment on Tuesday.

“My wife is here every day, but I found out last night my lawyer is in love with his show. He was there in the house, ‘Oh, I got on the show; I can’t wait to come,’ and then I find out he has lots of clients on the show, so he’s a regular in the audience at Dancing With the Stars,” the Hollywood actor said.

“So, my lawyer, his girlfriend, my wife, my stepdaughter, my grandchildren; yeah, they’re all there,” Roberts added.

“They all love the show, but they’re all being very quiet about it because they don’t know how to approach me about it really. They haven’t asked me if I’m happy. They just … ‘So how’s it going? Oh yeah, hmm-mm.’ But they haven’t asked if I’m happy. But I am happy. It’s a blast.”

Tension in Eric Roberts and sister Julia’s relationship started in the 1990s, which Eric has said was largely due to his addiction and other family issues. The feud deepened when Julia supported Emma’s mother, Kelly Cunningham, in a bitter custody battle.

In recent years, Eric has sought to mend his relationship with Julia. In his 2024 memoir, Runaway Train: Or the Story of My Life So Far, he expressed guilt for the harm his addiction caused and apologized to Julia.

Whether Julia or Emma will show their support for Eric on Dancing With the Stars is yet to be seen. When Eric was asked how he thought he was going to do in the dancing competition, he said he didn’t think he was going to perform very well.

“I don’t want to jinx it, but I don’t expect to do well. I expect to have fun. And if doing well, you know, falls out of having fun, I’m gonna do great,” he added.

The actor 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. She told Newsweek that she loves Roberts’ mentality when it comes to the competition.

“Sometimes with Dancing With the Stars, you actually, you really never know [how well you will do],” Stewart said.

“Sometimes, you can have someone like Eric with no dance experience, but people fall in love with who he is, with how he is approaching this experience, and we could go way further than we could ever [have] expected … I do believe that he is growing and he’s progressing, and that’s something that’s also very important in this process.

“So I love the mentality that we’re going into with this season is we’re just, we’re going to be present week to week, day by day, and if we happen to go further than we expected, it will be a lovely surprise,” Stewart added.

Eric added: “I certainly am the underdog.”

Stewart said that being the first Black female pro on the show means she always feels the pressure but in a positive way.

“My first season as a pro, I put a lot of pressure on myself, a lot of pressure of feeling like I am the only one, I am the first, I am this representative, and now I’ve turned that into fuel in each season and I just, I want to continue being that representation, but I also want my breaking barriers to continue to open doors,” Stewart said.

Stewart also serves as president of the nonprofit Share the Movement. It aims to increase diversity in the professional dance community by providing financial, educational, and inspirational support to promising young BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, (and) People of Color] dancers.

On the first episode of Dancing With the Stars Season 33, one of the movement’s scholarship recipients was in the audience with their mom.

“I actually met them, and it was her dream to be the first Black female pro at Dancing With the Stars and then her mom said, ‘Honey, I think you might have to be the second because there’s already one,'” Stewart continued.

“And, you know, to see her in the audience and for me to be that reflection of how she sees herself one day is something that it’s hard to put in words for me.”

Eric added: “You’re going to make me cry that it’s so cool.”