London, Apr 19 (ANI): Julia Roberts won the Oscar for playing her, but for Erin Brokovich, the movie based on her life and name was more of a curse than a blessing.
The movie portrayed her real-life fight against water contamination in the tiny town of Hinkley, California.
Brokovich has revealed that while she was basking in her new-found fame and publicising her cause, her youngest daughter Elizabeth, now 19, became addicted to cocaine and prescription drugs.
In fact, Erin has had to put up with abuse from strangers over her image and private life.
She has also battled personality problems since the movie turned her life upside down.
“Since the movie came out it”s been very hard. It was my curse,” the Sun quoted her as saying.
Erin had sold her story to Hollywood bosses for a reported 65,000 pounds.
“The film was a lot about the case but there was so much of my personal life in there too. I really didn”t know that a lot of my life was going to be in there – me, the children, my romance at the time with George the biker guy.
“I was going to premieres, doing publicity, appearing in magazines, on TV.
“None of those things were in my life or my world before the film. I wasn”t looking for them or anticipating them – it was an enormous change.
“It”s been harder on me than people realise. I found it difficult to cope with the attention, difficult that people were judging me and making comments,” she added.
Erin”s daughter Elizabeth started taking drugs aged 12 and was hooked on cocaine and prescription pills by the age of 14.
While Erin is happy the movie raised awareness of environmental issues, nothing could have prepared her for the cruel personal attacks.
“The main negative from the movie was people”s judgments and criticisms. I would get comments like ”shut your mouth” or ”cover your boobs,”” she said, speaking from her home near Los Angeles. (ANI)