On 12 September 1963, Roberts was born in Flint, North Wales, United Kingdom. She and her three siblings briefly spent some periods of time in foster care and children's homes as a consequence of her father being an alcoholic before being reunited with her birth family. She was interested in feminism and the works of the French philosopher Michel Foucault. From 1980 to 1984, she studied design at Wrexham School of Art, earning an Ordinary National Certificate and a Higher National Diploma. Between 1986 and 1987, Roberts did postgraduate studies at Saint Martin's School of Art, London. She went on to study for a Master of Fine Arts degree at Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow from 1988 to 1990. Roberts was a visiting student at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 1992.
