Julia Roberts has long maintained a rarified position in Hollywood — she’s one of the few women to wear the media-granted title of America’s Sweetheart. She first enchanted viewers in 1988’s “Mystic Pizza,” then stole their hearts entirely two years later in “Pretty Woman.” More hit movies followed, with highlights including: flirting with Hugh Grant in the rom-com “Notting Hill”; holding her own opposite Oscar-winners Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, and Olympia Dukakis in “Steel Magnolias”; charming moviegoers all over again in “My Best Friend’s Wedding”; and winning an Oscar for portraying a real-life activist in “Erin Brokovich.”
Digging into the annals of Julia Roberts’ dating history, the earliest famous name that emerges is Billy Idol. The British rockstar — whose ’80s hits included the likes of “White Wedding” and “Rebel Yell” — reportedly met Roberts on a flight. According to reports, Idol wooed her before the plane landed, resulting in the two having a brief fling.
At least that’s the apocryphal rumor that has somehow managed to survive for decades, even briefly referenced in a profile on Idol in the Daily Mail. For his part, Idol’s reminiscences of his romantic past certainly leave the door open for the story to be true. “I’ve been lucky with ladies,” he told the outlet. “Lots of one-night stands, obviously.”
However, neither Roberts nor Idol has ever publicly addressed whether an affair actually took place (or whether they became members of the Mile High Club before their plane touched down). Still, until either party confirms or denies the gossip, it’s more fun to assume that it happened.
Julia Roberts dated a much-older Liam Neeson
Julia Roberts was just 19 when she reportedly began dating 35-year-old Liam Neeson in the late ’80s. Despite their considerable age difference, Roberts’ romance with the star sparked like wildfire after they met on the set of her first ever movie, the 1988 film “Satisfaction.”
According to celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley — whose unauthorized biographies on the likes of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Reagan have spawned both headlines and controversy — the fact that Roberts’ father died when she was just 10 years old could be one reason behind her attraction to Neeson. “You don’t have to be Dr. Freud to figure that one out,” said Kelley in the 2017 TV special “The Kitty Kelley Files: Julia Roberts.” “I mean, all of us would fall in love with Liam Neeson, but for someone who never really had a father figure that she could look up to and admire … He was her first leading man, but he was also her first big love affair.”
According to Tyler Johnson of The Hollywood Gossip, Roberts and Neeson dated for two years. “They embarked on a relationship that lasted for quite some time,” he said in an interview for the special. Kelley added, “Liam Neeson was great with Julia Roberts,” while also noting that, for a young Roberts, “This would start a pattern with other leading men.”
The actress dated her Steel Magnolias co-star Dylan McDermott
Roberts’ standout performance in 1988’s “Mystic Pizza” led her to be cast in 1989’s “Steel Magnolias,” the biggest film she’d starred in yet. Among her co-stars was actor Dylan McDermott, who played her character’s husband. The movie was a turning point for Roberts; not only did her performance earn her an Oscar nomination, but she also began a serious relationship with McDermott.
Their romance began in 1988 and lasted for about two years, with the two keeping the relationship low-key — so much so that neither has ever spoken about the other in a public forum. According to reports, however, their relationship was steadily progressing, and when McDermott popped the question, Roberts said yes.
Even though they were reportedly engaged for most of the two years they were together, the stars never made it to the altar. One major reason had to do with Roberts’ 1990 movie “Flatliners” — as it turned out, she abruptly called off the engagement with McDermott when she wound up falling for one of her co-stars.
Roberts nearly married Kiefer Sutherland
While working on “Flatliners,” Julia Roberts fell in love with her co-star Kiefer Sutherland. That was inconvenient for them both at the time, given that Roberts was engaged and Sutherland was married. However, the pair eventually got engaged themselves and set a wedding date, with the ceremony scheduled to take place on a Hollywood soundstage in front of 150 A-list guests.
But three days before the wedding, the couple called it off. “It has been mutually agreed upon that the wedding has been postponed,” announced Roberts and Sutherland in a joint statement to People. Not everyone, however, agreed that the decision was mutual. “It was Julia who called the wedding off,” an insider told the outlet. “She has wanted to do it for some time but didn’t know if she could find the courage.” In an interview with Entertainment Weekly later that year, Roberts insisted the situation was far more nuanced than had been reported. “I feel like Kiefer, for whatever reasons, tried to make it seem like he was the victim of the situation,” she said. “But he shouldn’t try to make himself look better by taking shots at me.”
Sutherland later came to realize his former fiancée had made the right call. “I commend Julia for seeing how young and silly we were, even at the last minute, even as painful and as difficult as it was,” Sutherland told Rolling Stone in 2006. “Thank God she saw it.”
Her romance with Jason Patric had an unclear timeline
When the media reported on Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland canceling their wedding days before it was supposed to take place, it was also mentioned that Roberts had flown to Ireland with actor Jason Patric, who was also Sutherland’s best friend at the time. In fact, People printed that on what was supposed to have been her wedding day, she was spotted (sans engagement ring) having lunch with Patric. If it wasn’t immediately apparent that the two were romantically involved, it certainly became clear after the Daily Mail claimed they were “practically making love” during the flight to Dublin.
Roberts was asked about Patric in a 1991 interview with Entertainment Weekly — but she refused to offer any comment. “I choose at this moment not to speak about Jason for the reason that it is far more dignified and deserving of respect than to put it out there and to allow people to give their opinion on it at lunch,” she declared. Ultimately, the relationship didn’t last long, and the two split up the following year.
Years later, Patric weighed in on being one corner of this infamous Hollywood love triangle. “They had a relationship that ended and I was with her for a little while and it ended,” he told Vulture of Sutherland and Roberts. “They’ve both been subsequently married several times and I think they’re fine.”
