Julia Roberts’s sister-in-law has come forward in a court deposition, describing Timothy Busfield as a “creep” who subjected her to sexual harassment and humiliation. In documents exclusively accessed by the Daily Mail, she likened his behavior to that of a rapist, accusing him of compulsively and indiscriminately targeting women.

The legal papers, dated 1994, reveal that Eliza Roberts offered her testimony amidst a media storm when a 17-year-old girl alleged that Busfield had sexually harassed her on the set of “Little Big League.”

Busfield has consistently denied these allegations.

In her striking deposition, Roberts recounts a disturbing interaction with Busfield, whom she barely knew, which occurred five years prior to her statement.

She alleged that Busfield made inappropriate comments, expressing a desire to perform oral sex on her, boasting about his potential prowess in bed, and derogatorily referring to his wife at the time.

Known for his role in “The West Wing,” Busfield married Melissa Gilbert, a star from “Little House on the Prairie,” in 2013. At the time of the alleged incident, he was still married to his first wife.

In total, six other women came forward to offer sworn statements in support of the Minnesota teen’s account – among them Roberts. 

The Daily Mail has obtained copies of all these sworn depositions from court.

Eric and Eliza Roberts have been married since 1992. Before she was married, Eliza claimed Timothy Busfield propositioned her, according to an affidavit filed in 1994

Busfield, 68, has been accused of inappropriately touching twin 11-year-old boys – identified only as ‘VL’ and ‘SL’ in court documents – on the set of The Cleaning Lady, which he directed

Eliza Roberts, who starred in National Lampoon’s Animal House in 1978, spoke out against Busfield years before the director was charged in New Mexico

Three of the six women were involved in the production of Little Big League, filmed in Minneapolis in the fall of 1993. Two were Minneapolis women who testified that Busfield had hit on them in bars in a persistent, unsettling and aggressively sexual manner. 

Busfield, 68, is back in the news after two young boys accused him of sexually abusing them on the set of Fox’s New Mexico-filmed series The Cleaning Lady.

He was arrested by Albuquerque police on January 9 and held in jail until January 20, insisting that the allegations were ‘lies.’ He will next appear in court on February 4.

His current legal troubles have shone a spotlight on a slew of earlier allegations – reports of which, we have learned, prompted Roberts to step forward with her own experience.

Her husband, Eric, is the Oscar-nominated brother of Julia and father of actress Emma Roberts. 

Deposed in 1994, Roberts, then 41, told attorneys: ‘I read an article in a newspaper several weeks ago about a teenage girl who had worked on a set with Tim Busfield and she had accused him of lewd and harassing behavior, and I was stunned to hear it because the same thing happened to me with him.’

The case to which she was referring was that of a 17-year-old girl who alleged that Busfield invited her to his trailer, plied her with alcohol and propositioned her when she was an extra on the movie Little Big League. 

In her 1994 deposition, Roberts expressed regret that she had not ‘taken stronger action’ at the time of her own alleged encounter in 1989. 

Pictured: Eric Roberts, daughter Emma Roberts and Eliza Roberts

Eliza Roberts is married to Eric Roberts (left), brother of actress Julia Roberts (right)

Timothy Busfield poses for a mugshot after turning himself in to Albuquerque, New Mexico, law enforcement officials

She had feared negative publicity, she explained, saying: ‘These kinds of things can kind of mushroom and get very big.’ She said she did not want to be taken ‘away from my kids and my husband and my own work.’

Roberts told attorneys that she had assumed that her own encounter with Busfield was ‘an isolated incident.’ But, after reading the news article, she said, she changed her mind and decided to come forward, as she felt ‘very indignant that these women were being called liars.’ 

She said: ‘I just felt that this guy shouldn’t be allowed to be believed because he has a serious problem and he’s made it other peoples’ problem.’

The actress and casting director testified she was in a children’s bookstore in Santa Monica, California when Busfield, whom she had met a couple of times at castings, approached her and began chatting.

She said: ‘We started to talk about our kids. And he was very, you know, concerned father-type person and … he started to talk to me about marriage and passion and sex and divorce and then he started to compliment me.’

Roberts recalled how she began to feel increasingly uncomfortable with the turn of conversation: ‘He started to say how he was attracted to me…and I just kind of said, thanks for the compliment, and see you later, and I went out to my car and went to put my keys in the ignition and when I turned around to pull out of the space, he was right in my car window.’

He started, she said, to ‘get very graphic in the way that he was speaking to me.’

Asked what the actor said, Roberts testified: ‘He said things like… “I would really love to know how you taste. What makes you c***? I would like to lick your p****.” Things like that and it was shocking. And I was really upset.’

Busfield’s third wife, Little House on the Prairie actress Melissa Gilbert, penned an emotional letter to a New Mexico judge

Busfield’s attorney, Larry Stein, and wife Melissa Gilbert reacts to the judge granting his pretrial release on January 20

Roberts claimed Busfield told her they would be ‘so great together,’ but that mostly, ‘it was very specific sexual acts that he was talking about.’

It was, she said, ‘very hard to get rid of him.’ She testified Busfield followed her several blocks to a car wash where he continued to harass her.

‘It was way beyond, “I think you’re really pretty, I wish we could have gotten together some time,”‘ Roberts said, describing it as ‘very upsetting’ and a ‘very ugly experience’ that left her with ‘a sick feeling inside.’

The actress said equally sickening had been the echoes she heard of her own experience – including Busfield’s alleged fixation on oral sex – that she read in the accounts of other accusers.

For Roberts: ‘The women whom this happened to that are telling the truth and being called liars deserve support and corroboration. And if I can offer that just by telling an experience I had, then I feel I should do that. I would want somebody to do that for me.’

She said: ‘Once I found out that this appears to be something that he does indiscriminately – you know, it’s just like rapists,’ said Roberts in her sworn statement. ‘They don’t choose only pretty girls to rape. I mean, when people have a compulsion, basically you never know who their target is. It could be anybody.

‘I don’t know if he believes his own lies. I doubt it. I think he knows what he does. … I definitely believe the allegations. There’s no question in my mind.’

Roberts talked to her husband and her lawyer about the situation. She added she and Eric once vetoed Busfield’s casting as his co-star in a film.

‘The second I saw his [Busfield’s] name I said, “Eric, that’s the guy who harassed me”… It was enough for me to feel that we did not want to work with him or have contact with him.’

Busfield has starred in several successful TV shows in his career, including Thirtysomething and The West Wing. He is seen here opposite actress Allison Janey in the political drama, which ran from 1999 to 2006

Busfield pictured during a hearing in the Second District Judicial Court at the Bernalillo County Courthouse on January 20, 2026, in Albuquerque

Roberts said she ‘would have a lot more respect’ for Busfield if he stopped denying the women’s allegations and instead said: ‘”Look, I have something in my nature that I really need to take care of and I’m very, very sorry for the people that I have hurt.”‘

She added: ‘It makes me a little uncomfortable to remember what happened. But it’s better to be talking about it than just thinking of it.’

No charges were filed and the 1994 case was settled out of court on July 11, 1995. 

The local newspaper, Twin Cities Reader, reported at the time that a six-figure sum offered at the start of mediation had been rejected by the accuser, but that she was now, ‘very satisfied’ with the outcome.

The Minnesota case and the sworn statements filed as part of it are not the only allegations to have resurfaced in recent weeks. 

In addition, it has emerged that a 16-year-old girl in Sacramento accused Busfield of groping her in 2001, at a theatre in the city he co-founded.

She claimed that Busfield ‘kissed her, put his hands down her pants and touched her privates,’ according to court documents obtained by KOAT. ‘The defendant begged the family to not report to law enforcement if he received therapy’ the documents state. 

Another woman accused Busfield of groping her in a cinema in 2012. He said the encounter was consensual. 

At a hearing last week Busfield’s defense attorney, Amber Fayerberg, called the parents of his current accusers ‘scammers’ who were out for revenge and only made their claims after the boys had lost their roles on the show.

Eliza Roberts is not only her husband’s manager. She also runs a production company and is a casting director. The couple is seen here at a 1994 opening at the Planet Hollywood at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas

She told the court: ‘The LaSalle/Rodis family has already gotten their revenge.

‘Mr. Busfield has been cancelled. His career is over. In the span of six days, it’s done. ‘Talent agency dropped him, allegations plastered all over global media of pedophilia, his wife is under attack. His life is ruined, but his liberty under the rules can be restored. And I ask your honor to restore that liberty.’

After a four-hour hearing on January 20, Judge David A. Murphy denied a prosecution motion and ruled there was no probable cause to show that The West Wing actor should remain behind bars due to a public safety risk.

A tearful Gilbert mouthed, ‘He’s going home’ after hearing the judge’s decision.

On delivering the news that Busfield was to be granted bail the judge said, ‘I’ll characterize the weight of the evidence against the defendant as neutral at this point in time.’

He added that since Busfield has no criminal history and that ‘there are no similar allegations involving children of this past, ‘any prior sexual assault allegations against him haven’t been vetted by the judiciary system.’

On Friday, Roberts said in a statement to the Daily Mail: ‘I stand by everything I said then. The reason why I stand by it is because it was true then and it is true now.’

Earlier this month Busfield’s lawyer, Larry Stein, said the historic allegations levelled against his client were unproven and irrelevant.

In a prior statement to People, he said: ‘The allegations were never challenged, they were never proved, and they’re 25 years old.

‘And there doesn’t seem to be any connection between these allegations regarding women 25 years ago and the allegations regarding these young boys.’