Emma Roberts Once Hung Up on Britney Spears, Thinking the Call Was a Prank—and Immediately Regretted It

\201cI’m shaking thinking about it.\201d

Emma Roberts
(Image credit: Getty Images)

When you’re Emma Roberts—and your aunt is Julia Roberts—it’s not altogether impossible to get a surprise eighth birthday call from none other than Britney Spears, reaching the apex of pop superstardom in 1999.

Speaking with Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos on yesterday’s Live with Mark and Kelly—taped on April Fool’s Day—Roberts said she is “always nervous” about being pranked, even at that tender age. “I’m on guard year-round, especially with family and friends, but I’ve gotten it wrong before,” Roberts said, per People. “Very wrong.” 

Emma Roberts

Emma Roberts' aunt Julia Roberts helped orchestrate the surprise birthday call with Britney Spears.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Roberts’ aunt Julia and mother Kelly Cunningham surprised young Emma with a call from Spears, Roberts recalled: “It was my birthday and I think I was eight or nine—and this was back in the day of landlines,” she said. “My mom and my aunt handed me the landline and said, ‘Someone’s on the phone for you.’ And I was like, ‘Who?’”

The American Horror Story: Delicate star remembered Spears saying “Happy birthday, Emma. It’s Britney Spears.” Thinking it was a prank, “I looked at them and hung up and was like, ‘Mm-hmmm, nice,’” Roberts said. “And they were like, ‘No, that was her.’” 

Britney Spears in 2001

Roberts spoke to Spears at the height of Spears' fame, and promptly hung up on her, thinking it was a prank.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

She added “I was—still am—the biggest Britney Spears fan. And I literally started crumbling and I was like, ‘Can we get her back on the phone?’ They got her back on the phone.” Ripa then quipped, “Star 69 or whatever,” referencing a now-dated way to call back the number that just called you.

“I was like click right [away],” Roberts added, mimicking hanging up the phone. “I’m so sorry, Britney.” After Consuelos asked what the two ultimately talked about, Roberts said that she was too shocked to have a conversation with Spears, telling the host “I was so mortified and nervous and I was eight, so I just was like, ‘Thank you so much,’” she said. “I’m shaking thinking about it.”

Emma Roberts

Roberts immediately called Spears back after realizing it was really her on the phone.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Roberts admitted she “probably” cried after the experience but “in that moment, I thought I got them. I was like, ‘Nice try, everybody. Good prank.’”

Roberts also told Ripa and Consuelos that long before she and Kim Kardashian’s paths crossed on AHS, she met Kardashian while shopping at Dash, the since-shuttered boutique owned by Kardashian and sisters Kourtney and Khloé. “You know, it’s so funny,” Roberts said, per People. “Kim and I both grew up in Calabasas, California, and when I was a teenager, I used to shop at her and [her] sisters’ store, Dash. They were all working there at the time, before the show [Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which premiered in 2007] and I would shop there and chat with them. So when we were on the show [AHS], I’m like, ‘Wow. From Calabasas to here.’” 

Emma Roberts

Roberts at the "Madame Web" premiere

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Emma Roberts

Roberts at Paris Fashion Week

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Dash opened in 2006, the year before KUWTK premiered. After expanding the boutique’s reach from Calabasas to Miami, New York City, and a pop-up in Southampton, Dash closed for good in 2018.

Kim Kardashian at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party 2024

Kardashian co-stars with Roberts in "American Horror Story: Delicate."

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Roberts said in January that Kardashian is “amazing, she’s a pro,” Roberts said. “She’s one of the most prepared people I’ve ever worked with, and she’s just chill. I love her so much.”

Rachel Burchfield
Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more. 

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