The 77-year-old actress was part of an all-star cast for the 1989 drama film alongside Shirley MacLaine and Dolly Parton but alleged that then-newcomer Roberts, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as the tragic Shelby, was always being "picked on" by director Herbert Ross and she and her colleagues had to "come to her aid" and "rally around her" during production.

She told Vulture: "(Herb) was pretty much giving me the freedom to do whatever. I mean, Herb was very, very, very hard on Julia. If you ever talk to Julia, she’ll tell you. We would all rally around Julia, because she was the baby. She was sort of the newcomer. And she was wonderful, and he just picked on her. It was awful.

"Because he could be a real son of a b****, that’s why. Some people just need to have somebody they pick on. But we all came to her aid, and I remember Dolly once just turned on him — always with humor, but usually the most vulgar humor you ever heard so that it was like, you just literally don’t have a leg to stand on."

The Academy Award-winning star was then asked if she was subjected to the same sort of behavior from Herb - who died in 2001 at the age of 74 - but insisted that would never have happened because she is a "warrior" despite her small stature, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

She said: "No. Because he dared not. I mean, I don’t mind notes, but I will argue if it doesn’t make sense to me. But if you’re gonna be mean to me, then you’re gonna find a warrior. I may be small, but you don’t want to do that."