Emma Roberts Un-Gifted a Rare Book From an Ex Once She Realized How Much It Was Worth

Emma Roberts showed off her Los Angeles home, which she called a “grown-up dollhouse,” as part of Architectural Digest’s Open Door tour series published Tuesday. Between showing off her extensive doll collection, which includes a “drunk cowgirl Barbie” (“look at her. She’s fabulous.”) and others that she “hopes that every night, they’ll come [to life] and wake me up, it would be so thrilling” and the “time-out chair” salvaged from her own childhood, Roberts held up a hardcover copy of Charles Portis’s 1966 debut novel, Norwood.

“This is a book I actually gave as a gift to my ex,” she said. “When we broke up I saw how much it was worth and I kept it.”

Indeed, an Etsy listing for the book in an edition that looks similar to the one Robert brandishes while describing her epic act of take-backsies has a $4,500 price tag.

She shares the house with her 3-year-old son, Rhodes, and, of course, all those dolls, “Leggy Jill” included.

Also of note: A few Vanity Fair-coded artifacts, including a copy of the Vanity Fair Portraits book and a very special champagne bottle. “My staple drink that I make for people is pouring champagne,” she shared, deadpan, before introducing a special inanimate object guest.

“So, this is Daniel Day-Lewis,” she said, brandishing a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, 2009 vintage, with the actor’s name engraved in script on the glass. “I was at an Oscar party one year and they had these on the table and I just really needed it.”

As the world knows, there are Oscar parties, and then there is the Oscar party: Vanity Fair’s legendary post-show affair. And that, in 2018, is where she nabbed what she called “a great conversation starter.” At that year’s VF party, which Roberts attended with then-boyfriend Evan Peters, several of the year’s nominees, including Day-Lewis, who was recognized for his work in The Phantom Thread, had their names emblazoned on the bottles.

“I carried it around all night to realize it was decor and it’s empty and I probably shouldn’t have taken it, but I really made good use of it and people love it,” Roberts said. She does, at least, give it the respect of addressing it by its full name. “So, hi, Daniel Day-Lewis.”

A representative for Emma Roberts did not immediately respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.