Julia Roberts Opens Up About Losing Half-Sister

Julia Roberts may look happy on the cover of the May issue of WSJ magazine, but behind that smile she is grieving the loss of her half-sister, Nancy Motes, who passed away of an apparent drug overdose in February. The actress opened up for the first time about the death in an interview with the magazine that took place just weeks after.

"It's just heartbreak. It's only been 20 days. There aren't words to explain what any of us have been through in these last 20 days," Julia explained. "It's hour by hour some days, but you just keep looking ahead."

According to the mag, the 46-year-old's eyes began to well up as she explained, "You don't want anything bad to happen to anyone, but there are so many tragic, painful, inexplicable things in the world. But [as with] any situation of challenge and despair, we must find a way, as a family. It's so hard to formulate a sentence about it outside the weepy huddle of my family."

Julia and her late sister seemed to have a rocky relationship that started when they were very young. In an interview with the Daily News in 2013, Nancy revealed that she felt hurt by her sister's criticism of her weight to the point that she underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2010. But she kept positive that they were fixing their relationship.

"I think we're both trying to change our opinions of each other," Motes said. "It's a work in progress. It's not going to be fixed overnight, nor do I think it's going to be fixed at this point by me just getting skinny."

Well, we are glad to see that Julia is able to speak about her feelings. Check out this video to see what Julia and her family are doing to work through this sad time in their lives, and tune in to "The Insider With Yahoo" for the latest in entertainment news.