They say never meet your heroes because they will disappoint you and, to some fans, that’s what seemingly happened with Teyana Taylor and Julia Roberts.
What was supposed to be a beautiful exchange between the two actresses led to online backlash for only one woman.
Julia Roberts sparks outrage after telling Teyana Taylor she needs to eat a sandwich. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images) (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for WarnerMedia)
Moments before Taylor’s emotional win at the Golden Globes, she was congratulated by none other than the Academy Award-winning star. Taylor won Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 2025 film “One Battle After Another.” But it was Roberts’ comments during that joyous moment that had fans side-eyeing her.
In multiple videos, Roberts was seen slowly walking over to Taylor on the red carpet with her arms spread out wide for a big hug. In one clip, Roberts can be heard saying, “Looking you right in the eye girl,” before Taylor responds, “Don’t come no closer,” with a wide smile on her face.
When their finger tips finally touched, Taylor let out a light shriek and pulled Roberts in for a hug.
Much of their exchange was drowned out by the surrounding buzz of fellow Golden Globe attendees. During brief lulls in the noise, however, Roberts could be heard telling Taylor to “enjoy every minute of it” and adding, “I’m so happy for you,” as Taylor wiped away tears.
The “Gonna Love Me” singer and the “Pretty Woman” star hug one more time before Roberts taps Taylor on the waist.
It is in this moment that Roberts calls Taylor, “Teeny, tiny,” followed by an alleged joke, telling her, “You need to eat a sandwich.”
The two embraced once more when Taylor won her award later on that evening. She walked over to Roberts at her table and the two interlaced their fingers.
Despite Taylor’s ecstatic expression the entire night, fans thought Roberts’ comments were beyond inappropriate.
One person on Hellomag’s Instagram page wrote, “Did Julie tell her to ‘eat a sandwich?’ Julia & the rest of Hollywood are rail thin! I can think of at least 20 more appropriate things to say in such a moment.”
Someone else on X responding to a story wrote, “I LOVE JULIA, BUT SHE WAS OUTTA POCKET.”
Others didn’t believe Roberts had any bad intentions behind the comments.
One person on the Golden Globes page joked, “I can’t wait for someone to tell me I NEED TO EAT A SANDWICH!!! Teyana, send me your routine. I’ll just stop a little bit before you bc I don’t want to be too small at my RIPE age.”
Another person laughing at the moment said, “Did she say you need to eat a sandwich?”
On Wednesday, Taylor recalled the encounter on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” and even appeared unbothered by Roberts’ quip.
She confirmed, “She told me I need a sandwich. But look though — because I’ve seen people trying to get on her about that — and I was like, ‘Hold on,’ she told me I needed a sandwich because she couldn’t find my waist. She looked at my waist [and] she was like, ‘Girl, you need a sandwich.’ It was so cute.”
The mother of two and fitness fanatic got really descriptive when describing their meeting on the red carpet. “I just remember her parting the sea for me. She came through like Moses. She was just like — she was floating. It was so scary how perfectly she was floating. I told her, I said, ‘Don’t come a step closer.’”
Taylor said Roberts laughed at her in that moment and she “dived into her arms” before she started crying.
Taylor has stated repeatedly that her favorite film of all time “Pretty Woman,” which happens to star Julia Roberts along with Richard Gere.
“I’ve watched it so many times,” she told US Weekly in 2018.
The 1990 film catapulted Roberts to fame and told the story of a prostitute (Roberts) and a wealth businessman (Gere) whose transactional relationship slowly turned into a romantic one.
