In his new memoir released last week, Eric Roberts publicly apologized to his sister Julia Roberts for his “idiotic” comments, taking credit for her Oscar-winning career.

“One of the things I want to apologize for in this book is that I have said more than once in public, ‘If it weren’t for me, there would be no Julia Roberts,’” he wrote in Runaway Train: Or, The Story of My Life So Farreleased on September 17, according to People.

The actor, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Runaway train opposite Jon Voight and is currently starring in season 33 of Dancing with the starsrefers to an infamous 2018 Vanity Fair interview in which he said, “If it weren’t for me, Julia Roberts and Emma Roberts (his daughter) wouldn’t exist as celebrities, as actresses, and I’m very proud of that.”

He also said at the time that he Beautiful woman star to secure her first agent, saying, “When Julia first came to New York, I went to William Morris and I said, ‘Who’s going to sign my sister Julia?’ And I’m so proud that everybody knows I was the first, because I was by far the first. I was the first to be nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award, so I’m proud of that.”

He continued in the book: “That’s not only unfortunate, it’s untrue. And I hope Julie will accept this more public apology. It was an idiotic thing to say. I was proud of her, but it was pride turned on its head, to my own advantage.”

Roberts went on to describe the beloved actress as a “very driven woman,” adding that someone would have “picked her out of the crowd” for a career in Hollywood without his influence or help. Although, he said, it may have been his groundbreaking work for Julia that changed the course of her life.

“On the other hand, I was born to do this. I moved to New York City when I wasn’t even old enough to drink a beer in public. If Julie had stayed in Atlanta, she probably would have married a rich guy and had a very different life. So I’ll take credit, once I divorced my father (or thought I had) and moved to New York City, for saying to my sisters, ‘Come on, girls; the water’s fine.’ Then, it seems to me, she saw my life as a young actor in New York, and she saw what I was doing for a living, and she wanted to try it.”

Elsewhere in the book, Roberts also reflected on not being able to “handle” being a parent to Emma, ​​in addition to speaking candidly about his addiction to cocaine. Earlier this summer, the actor told Still here Hollywood podcast that he “shouldn’t talk about Emma or Julia,” but that he “stumbled” and that he does anyway.