Julia Roberts hit a professional milestone in 1989 with the release of Steel Magnolias but according to one of her co-stars, she was enduring some behind-the-scenes bullying from the movies director, Herbert Ross.

In a new interview with New York magazines Vulture , Sally Field described Ross being very, very, very hard on Roberts while filming the dramedy, which raked in more than $83 million at the U.S. box office a rarity for a female-led film at the time.

If you ever talk to Julia, shell tell you, Field said. 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.

As to why Ross might have singled Roberts out, Field said: Because he could be a real son of a bitch, thats why. Some people just need to have somebody they pick on. But we all came to her aid.

Field, a two-time Oscar winner, said Ross didnt subject her to the same treatment because he dared not.

I mean, I dont mind notes, but I will argue if it doesnt make sense to me, she explained. But if youre gonna be mean to me, then youre gonna find a warrior. I may be small, but you dont want to do that.

Ross, whose Hollywood rsum also included The Goodbye Girl and Footloose, died in 2001 at age 74.