Julia Roberts has spoken out about her half-sister Nancy Motes’ untimely death.

In February, Motes, 37, was found dead. According to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office, she was discovered by paramedics on the bathroom floor of a Los Angeles home with prescription pills around her body. She is said to have left a suicide note referencing her isolation from her family.

Roberts has stayed silent since her death, notwithstanding the family’s statement that they were “shocked and devastated.” Roberts was questioned about Motes’ death in a recent interview published in WSJ Magazine. The actress’ “face tightens” and suddenly tears up, according to the writer.

She had this to say about Nancy’s death: “It’s just heartbreak. It’s only been 20 days. There aren’t words to explain what any of us have been through in these last 20 days. It’s hour by hour some days, but you just keep looking ahead.”

Instead of addressing reports that Motes left a suicide note blaming her celebrity elder sister, Roberts concentrated on the tragedy surrounding her death in the interview.

“You don’t want anything bad to happen to anyone, but there are so many tragic, painful, inexplicable things in the world.

“But [as with] any situation of challenge and despair, we must find a way, as a family. It’s so hard to formulate a sentence about it outside the weepy huddle of my family.”

Roberts also mentioned that she uses meditation to cope with her loss.

“Meditation or chanting or any of those things can be so joyous and also very quieting,” she says, adding that she has taught her three children the technique. “We share and just say, ‘This is a way I comfort myself.’”

Motes was the daughter of Julia and Eric Roberts’ mother, Betty Lou Motes, and their stepfather, Michael Motes, and had worked as a production assistant on Glee.

Julia, 46, has three children with husband Danny Moder: Henry, six, and twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, nine, and she spoke about how she balances career and home life: “By the time we had kids, I had accomplished things and felt secure about that part of my life.

“I was so joyful moving into the family phase of my life in a sincere way. We’re just grateful for the sense we have of being like any other family down the street. I don’t question it.”

She also joked that when her twins were born in 2004, she wanted to spend as much time as possible with them.

“For a long time they weren’t even aware I had a job because I was home so much. Now they get it,” she added.

Roberts, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her part in August: Osage County earlier this year, will next be seen in Ryan Murphy and HBO’s adaptation of the play The Normal Heart.