Sally Field Says Julia Roberts Was Mistreated By 'Steel Magnolias' Director Herbert Ross

In a new interview, Fields said she and her A-list co-stars in the 1989 dramedy "would all rally around" Roberts, a relative newcomer at the time.

Julia Roberts hit a professional milestone in 1989 with the release of “Steel Magnolias” ― but according to one of her co-stars, she was enduring some behind-the-scenes bullying from the movie’s director, Herbert Ross.

In a new interview with New York magazine’s Vulture, Sally Field described Ross being “very, very, very hard” on Roberts while filming the dramedy, which raked in more than $83 million at the U.S. box office ― a rarity for a female-led film at the time.

“If you ever talk to Julia, she’ll tell you,” Field said. “We would all rally around Julia, because she was the baby. She was sort of the newcomer. And she was wonderful, and he just picked on her. It was awful.”

As to why Ross might have singled Roberts out, Field said: “Because he could be a real son of a bitch, that’s why. Some people just need to have somebody they pick on. But we all came to her aid.”

Field, a two-time Oscar winner, said Ross didn’t subject her to the same treatment “because he dared not.”