Julia Roberts’ half-sister Nancy Motes dead of apparent drug OD

Julia Roberts and Eric Roberts’ younger half-sister, Nancy Motes, was found dead Sunday in Los Angeles of an apparent drug overdose, according to a statement released Monday by the family.

“The family is both shocked and devastated” by 37-year-old Motes’ death, they said in the statement, obtained by People. There is no official report yet from the coroner’s office.

Roberts, 46, nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for “August: Osage County,” bowed out of Monday’s Academy Awards nominees luncheon to be with family, her representative told E! News.

In an August 2013 interview with the New York Daily News, Motes, who once weighed nearly 300 pounds, claimed to be “incredibly hurt and very sad” over “not-so-nice” comments Julia Roberts allegedly made to her over the years about her weight. Motes got gastric bypass surgery in 2010 and brought her weight down by almost half. At the time of the interview, she described her relationship with her famous half-sister as “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,” Motes told the paper. At the same time, she said, “I love Julia absolutely, and I have no doubt she loves me.”

Motes, who had worked as a production assistant on “Glee,” intended to marry fiancee John Dilbeck, a film and TV locations manager, in May, the Daily News said.

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