Although Jason Bateman doesn’t usually talk about his relationship with his family, the Zootopia 2 star shared some unexpected insight into his connection with his older sister, Justine Bateman.
In a recent interview with Esquire, Jason confessed that he and Justine “don’t see each other a ton,” although that isn’t due to a feud or other messy quarrels.
“There isn’t the typical ‘We see each other every Thanksgiving or every Christmas and our kids want to be together,’” Jason noted. “There isn’t that. In a great way.”
The Emmy winner shares two kids with wife Amanda Anka, while Justine shares two children with her husband Mark Fluent. Jason, 56, said that his conversations with Justine, 59, are “the rich conversations you would have with an adult friend, not the kind of petulant back-and-forth you might have with your adult sibling.”
“We hang out, and we’re nice to each other because we respect one another as individuals regardless of the blood thing,” he added. “I’m seeing her for lunch next week.”
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The Bateman siblings have worked in Hollywood since they were kids. Jason played an orphan adopted by the Ingalls family on TV’s Little House on the Prairie before continuing his acting career as an adult while segueing into directing. Justine got her start playing Mallory Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties. She has since transitioned into filmmaking.
While both siblings seemingly make it a point not to talk about their relationship publicly, they have mentioned one another throughout the years. In 2015, Jason referred to his bond with Justine as “healthy” on the WTF With Marc Maron podcast while admitting the pair weren’t close.
“Well, let’s earn the relationship that adults should or could have,” he explained at the time. “You’re not handcuffed because of the blood. You’ve gotta earn it.”
When Maron asked how far away Justine lived from him, Jason confessed, “She’s about a mile from my house. … I could be a better uncle, brother, son, Marc.”
More recently, Justine, who was “excited” about Donald Trump’s re-election last year, mentioned her brother on social media while calling out the belief that people were making up conflict between them over their “political ideologies.”
“Anyone bringing up my brother to me for any other reason than to say you like his new upcoming show, or any of his past work, will be muted at best, and blocked at worst,” Justine wrote on X in September. “I’m not interested in your fantasy about some imagined conflict between the two of us over your political ideologies.”
She went on, “Really, it’s sick. So, keep it up. It makes it easy for me if identify yourselves, so I can make an X setting adjustment to never have to hear from you, ever again.”
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