Julia Roberts' half sister found dead of apparent drug overdose
The half sister of actress Julia
Roberts has been found dead of an apparent drug overdose, the family said Monday.
Nancy Motes, 37, was found dead Sunday in Los Angeles. She shared a mother with the "Pretty Woman" star, Lisa Roberts Gillan and actor Eric Roberts. She was also the aunt of Eric’s daughter, actress Emma Roberts.
"It is with deep sadness that the family of Nancy Motes... confirms that she was found dead in Los Angeles yesterday of an apparent drug overdose," a statement from the family said.
"There is no official report from the Coroner's office yet.
The family is both shocked and devastated," the statement said.
Julia Roberts, 46, pulled out of Monday's Academy Awards nominees luncheon to be with family, her representative told E! News. The actress won a best actress Oscar for 2000's "Erin Brokovich" and is currently up for a supporting actress Oscar for "August: Osage County."
In an interview published in August in the New York Daily News, Motes said she had dropped from a weight of nearly 300 pounds to 155 pounds after undergoing gastric bypass surgery.
Motes, who had worked as a production assistant on "Glee," was engaged to John Dilbeck, a film and TV locations manager, and the couple planned to marry in May, the Daily News said.