Emma Roberts dad Eric reveals he was coked up when she was born: I couldnt handle being a parent

Eric Roberts knows he could’ve been a better father to daughter Emma Roberts.The 68-year-old actor opened up about his complicated relationship with Emma, 33, in his newly-released memoir, “Runaway Train: Or the Story of My Life So Far.” “I loved my little daughter with the strength of Hercules, despite my own weaknesses,” he wrote, per Entertainment Weekly.“However, I couldn’t handle the realities of an infant coming into my life, and I couldn’t handle being a parent!”Eric, who shares Emma with his ex Kelly Cunningham, admitted that he’s “still not a father figure.”“Emma, on the other hand, certainly knows what that role is — now grown up and a mom herself,” he said.

“She’s that person to her first child, Rhodes.”Emma became a parent in Dec.2020 when she gave birth to her and Garrett Hedlund’s son Rhodes.

The former couple split in 2022.In his memoir, Eric looked back on his decision to “abandon” Cunningham when Emma was only 7 months old.“We went through a lot, and [Cunningham] saw me at my absolute worst — yet she stayed, for a time, though I’m sure she questioned whether or not she should,” he recalled.“We both wanted a child — maybe I did more than she — but we both wanted to become parents.”“The pregnancy was very exciting,” Eric continued.

“I fell madly in love with Emma the first minute I saw her.”But Eric noted that his struggles with cocaine addiction at the time led to his inability to be a parent to Emma.“The biggest consequence of my drug use was losing Emma,” he wrote.

“I was still impossibly coked up when she was born, which explains everything.”The “Dancing with the Stars” Season 33 contestant got into legal trouble due to his addiction in the 1980s.He got sober in 1995, four years after Emma was born, after attending court-ordered rehab for 18 months.

Eric opened up about the lessons he learned from his past addiction battle in a recent interview on “Today.”“Onc...