Roberts was born in Smyrna, Georgia, to Betty Lou (née Bredemus) and Walter Grady Roberts She is of English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, German, and Swedish ancestry. Her father was a Baptist and her mother a Roman Catholic, and she was raised a Catholic. Her older brother, Eric Roberts, from whom she was estranged until 2004; sister Lisa Roberts Gillan; and niece Emma Roberts, are also actors.