Julia Roberts was subjected to ‘awful’ bullying on ‘Steel Magnolias’ set

Actress Sally Field has shared that Hollywood star Julia Roberts was subjected to ‘awful’ bullying on the set of Steel Magnolias. The 77-year-old actress was part of an all-star cast for the 1989 film alongside Shirley MacLaine and Dolly Parton, but alleged that the then-newcomer, Roberts, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as the tragic Shelby, was always being ‘picked on’ by director Herbert Ross. So along with colleagues, she had to ‘come to her aid’ and ‘rally around her’ during production.

She shared, “Herb was pretty much giving me the freedom to do whatever. But he was very, very, very hard on Julia. If you ever talk to Julia, she’ll tell you. We would all rally around Julia, because she was the baby. She was sort of the newcomer. And she was wonderful, and he just picked on her. It was awful.”

The Academy Award-winning star was then asked if she was subjected to the same sort of behaviour from Herb — who died in 2001 at the age of 74 — but she insisted that would never have happened because she was a ‘warrior’ despite her small stature.