Close Menu
    Subscribe
    Entertainment

    Robert De Niro Shares What Makes Him Feel “Guilty” as Dad of 7 Kids

    soreceryBy No Comments9 Mins Read

    Watch: Robert De Niro Shares What Makes Him Feel “Guilty” as Dad of 7 Kids

    Robert De Niro often analyzes the difficulty of balancing a career and fatherhood. 

    The Oscar winner got candid about the struggles he’s faced during his years in the spotlight, admitting there’s not really a secret when it comes to finding balance in parenthood, especially as he still finds it hard to be away from his kids while he’s working. 

    “I don’t know if there is a secret. It’s just managing it all,” De Niro shared with People in an interview published Aug. 27. “And there’s no way around not feeling a little guilty about not being there at times you should or you think you should.”

    And despite being a father seven times over, it’s always “a new experience.” 

    “It’s not like you’ve taken courses on it and stuff,” he added. “You can, of course, but you don’t. You just jump in and you have the child and you got to… That’s it.”

    read

    Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and More Famous Fathers Who Had Children Later in Life

    The 83-year-old adopted his eldest daughter Drena, 54, when he married her mom, ex-wife DiahnneAbbott. He and Abbott later welcomed son Raphael, 49. De Niro is also dad to twins Julian and Airyn, 30, with ex ToukieSmith; kidsElliot, 28, and Helen, 14, with ex-wife GraceHightower; and daughter Gia, 3, with girlfriend TiffanyChen. 

    And becoming a father later in life was never an issue for the Meet the Parents actor. 

    John Nacion/FilmMagic)=

    “It feels great,” De Niro told AARP in 2023 after Gia’s birth. “Everything that I’m consumed with or worried about just goes away when I look at her. It’s wondrous.”

    And while he doesn’t have the secret to work-life balance, the Raging Bull actor does have words of wisdom on how best to approach fatherhood.

    “The main thing is to support your kids,” he shared with Entertainment Tonight in 2025. “As long as they’re not hurting themselves, doing anything destructive or anything like that, you have to support them—period.”

    John Nacion/Getty Images

    He also advised that it’s important to be their cheerleader, even when as a parent he might not totally agree with the choice they’re making. 

    “Even if you don’t go with it—you have to support them,” he emphasized. “And they have to know that you support them. Always.”

    For a deep dive into De Niro’s expansive family, keep reading. 

    Getty Images

    First Wife Diahnne AbbottRobert De Niro met his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, while making Martin Scorsese‘s Taxi Driver, in which she had a bit part as the ticket taker at a porn theater Travis Bickle patronizes in the gritty 1976 classic.They tied the knot April 28, 1976.The couple also appeared together in Scorsese’s 1977 tortured-romance drama New York, New York and his 1982 satire The King of Comedy.

    Getty Images

    Daughter Drena De NiroThe actor adopted Diahnne’s daughter Drena, born Sept. 3, 1967, when they got married.

    Tim Boxer/Getty Images

    Drena’s first Instagram post is a black-and-white snap of her as a child out to dinner with her parents and then-couple Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston, captioned “At this point all I wonder is WTF was I doing there ???”She caught the creative bug early, though, and remained in show business as an actor and producer.

    Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

    Growing up, “it definitely wasn’t the typical family lifestyle,” she told Everything Zoomer, “but there was a lot of warmth, fun, craziness.” She described her father as “a non-judgmental, open-minded person, always accepting of what people feel their paths are.”

    Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

    Son Raphael De NiroDe Niro and Abbott’s son Raphael De Niro was born Nov. 9, 1976.Raphael later recalled the family moving from Los Angeles (where his father was born) to New York (the city De Niro is most associated with) when he was about 10, telling The Real Deal it was a major “culture shock.”De Niro and Abbott divorced in 1988.

    Hannah Carnes De Niro/Instagram

    Raphael went into real estate, which also runs in the family. Per his website, he leads The De Niro Team at Douglas Elliman in Manhattan, and he’s a partner in TriBeCa’s Greenwich Hotel. He shares three kids with ex-wife Claudine de Matos and has been married to stylist Hannah Carnes since March 2020.Acknowledging his last name alone turned him into fodder for tabloid coverage, Raphael told The Real Deal, “I just try to keep my head down and keep my private life private.”

    Instagram

    Grandson Leandro De Niro RodriguezLeandro De Niro Rodriguez, Drena’s son with artist ex Carlos Rodriguez, died of a suspected overdose on July 2, 2023. He was 19.On Aug. 11, 2023, which would have been her son’s 20th birthday, Drena wrote on Instagram, “Thank you for the happiest and most profound 2 decades of my life, little angel. I hope you are at peace and your spirit is filled with joy today and always.”De Niro called his grandson’s death a shock, telling People, “And I just then started thinking about all the things I could have, should have done maybe with him. I don’t know if that would’ve made a difference. And so that’s always playing through my mind. It shouldn’t have happened.”

    Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

    Ex-Girlfriend Toukie SmithDe Niro and model-actress Toukie Smith started dating in 1988, but ended their romantic relationship several years before their twins Julian and Airyn were born via surrogate on Oct. 20, 1995.The exes would be leading “separate personal and professional lives,” De Niro’s rep said in a statement at the time, but “look forward to sharing the parenting of the children.”A rep for Smith said, per the New York Times, that the pair “obviously still have a very strong bond.”

    Airyn De Niro/Instagram

    Daughter Airyn De NiroAiryn came out as a transgender woman in April 2025. She told Them Magazine that her journey also brought her closer to her racial identity.”I think a big part of [my transition] is the influence Black women have had on me,” she said. “I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way.” As for who the actress aspires to be like? Her mother, of course.”Whenever I’m at a family gathering on my dad’s side, people would always talk about how much they love my mom and how memorable she was and how happy my dad was when he was with her,” she shared. “I want to be like that… I want to be remembered the way that people remember her.”De Niro signaled that his feelings for his child hadn’t changed in any way, saying in a statement, “I loved and supported Aaron as my son and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter. I don’t know what the big deal is. I love all my children.”

    Bruce Glikas/WireImage

    Son Julian De NiroJulian is a stage and screen actor who appeared on Broadway in the Tony-nominated The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. In 2022 he played a young Barack Obama in the Showtime limited series The First Lady and appeared on the Netflix series Zero Day, starring his dad as a former POTUS investigating a deadly cyberattack.”For my kids, I tell them, ‘If you want to be an actor or you want to do this or that, that’s fine as long as you’re happy. Just don’t sell yourself short,'” De Niro told People in January 2020. “That’s the most I would say—push yourself a little more and reach for what you really think it is you want to do. Don’t be afraid.”

    George Napolitano/FilmMagic

    Second Wife Grace HightowerDe Niro married Grace Hightower on June 17, 1997.The welcomed son Elliot De Niro on March 18, 1998. De Niro filed for divorce from the Precious actress in August 1999, but they reconciled and renewed their vows in 2004.“They can make sure this one sticks,” the actor joked of the two judges who officiated, per People.In 2009, De Niro, then 66, told the Los Angeles Times, “My whole thing now is just to have the strength to keep my kids in line and get them to the point where they’re independent and self-reliant. I want to make sure my kids know I’m there, and you’ve got to have the stamina to do that.”Daughter Helen Grace De Niro was born via surrogate on Dec. 23, 2011.De Niro and Hightower split up for good in 2018, the Oscar winner saying in a statement, “Grace and I have two beautiful children together. We are entering a period of transition in our relationship which is a difficult but constructive process. I honor Grace as a wonderful mother and ask for privacy and respect from all as we proceed to develop our roles as partners in parenting.”

    Lawrence Schwartzwald/Sygma via Getty Images

    Elliot De NiroWhen promoting Silver Linings Playbook, in which he played a father whose grown son (played by Bradley Cooper) has bipolar disorder, De Niro opened up about having a child with special needs.”I don’t like to get emotional,” he told Katie Couric in 2013, “but I know exactly what [my character] goes through.”He shared in 2016 that Elliot has autism.

    Marc Piasecki/FilmMagic

    Helen De Niro”She’s so adorable,” De Niro said of his then 1-year-old daughter in 2013. He told CBS News, “You just look at her, and it’s all there…Nothing else matters.”Helen made a rare red carpet appearance with her dad and his girlfriend Tiffany Chen at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

    Amy Sussman/Getty Images for IHG Hotels & Resorts

    Girlfriend Tiffany ChenDe Niro was first photographed with Chen in August 2021, but his relationship with the tai chi expert wasn’t the subject of much notice until after their daughter Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro was born on April 6, 2023.”This baby was planned,” Gayle King relayed in announcing Gia’s arrival a month later on CBS Mornings, and “brought here by love.”

    John Nacion/Getty Images

    Daughter Gia Chen-De NiroWhile De Niro admittedly doesn’t do the “heavy lifting,” he waxed rhapsodic about having a baby in the house. “Everything that I’m consumed with or worried about just goes away when I look at her,” he told AARP in January 2024. “It’s wondrous.”And at 2 years old, Gia continued to be “pure joy,” De Niro told Entertainment Tonight in June 2025. “It’s always wonderful.”

    For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App

     ​ 

    Share.
    Unknown's avatar

    Related Posts

    Add A Comment

    Leave a Reply

    Discover more from TheBullPost

    Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

    Continue reading