Robert De Niro’s Baby Is His Teenage Grandkids’ Aunt
Robert De Niro attends the "Killers Of The Flower Moon" photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 21, 2023 in Cannes, France.
Robert De Niro is all about getting busy — in the bedroom and in the entertainment business. In a new interview with People, the Killers of the Flower Moon star declares he is “ready to take whatever life gives me.” At 80 years old, De Niro welcomed his daughter Gia last April, with his 45-year-old partner Tiffany Chen. The two met on the set of 2015’s The Intern. He says that when he looks at his youngest child, “Everything else goes away.” Tearing up, he adds, “It’s wondrous.”
With six other children and three grandchildren, De Niro savors the sweet moments. De Niro’s other children are Drena, 56, and Raphael, 47, from his first marriage with Diahnne Abbott; twin sons, Julian and Aaron, 28, with his ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith; Elliot, 25, and Helen, 12, from his marriage with Grace Hightower. He says all of his children “get a big kick” out of smiley Gia. Raphael has three children and De Niro crooned, “They’re about to be teenagers!” Drena’s son, Leandro De Niro, passed away three months after Gia was born due to an accidental overdose. He was 19. In his People feature, De Niro said the time his kids and grandkids spend together with his baby girl “is everything to me.”
He is swooning over his similarities to Gia, saying that she looks a lot like him when he was a baby when looking at side-by-side photos. Gia also looks like his daughter Helen and “one of my grandkids.” The family man added that his favorite thing to do with his large family besides “just being together” is taking trips to warm places. De Niro owns properties and hotels all around the world, often vacationing in Europe.
When asked about retirement, he says: “Not at the moment.” His latest film, Killers of the Flower Moon is streaming now on Apple TV+. Watch the trailer below:
Robert De Niro's 5 Best Movies Ranked
Robert Anthony De Niro became famous for his portrayals of gritty characters at the beginning of his career. Once the New York native hit the comedic spotlight in the 2000s with Meet The Parents playing the part of a cranky old man, De Niro managed to keep a healthy balance of comedy and drama in his filmography. His next film will be Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon; the two have made ten feature films together since 1973’s Mean Streets.
De Niro’s parents divorced when he was just two years old after his father, Robert De Niro Sr., announced he was gay. His mother, Virginia Admiral, raised De Niro in Manhattan’s Little Italy. Robert took an interest in acting at age 10, playing the role of the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz at the Dramatic Workshop. Marlon Brando attended the same drama school and later became an inspiration for De Niro. As a way to relieve his shyness, De Niro became fascinated by cinema. By age 16, he dropped out of high school to pursue a professional career in acting. He later said in his biography De Niro: A Life, “When I was around 18, I was looking at a TV show, and I said, ‘If these actors are making a living at it, and they’re not really that good, I can’t do any worse than them.'”
Early Work
De Niro had minor film roles in the late 60s before landing a major role in Brian De Palma’s Greetings (1968), a satirical film about men avoiding the Vietnam War draft. With seven movies and two more De Palma collaborations, De Niro starred in two theater performances. He then returned to the big screen with 1973’s Bang the Drum Slowly, which received critical acclaim and helped De Niro gain further recognition. In 1973, De Niro began collaborating with Martin Scorsese in the crime film Mean Streets, co-starring Harvey Keitel. The following year, De Niro landed a pivotal role in Francis Ford Coppola’s crime epic The Godfather Part II (1974), winning an Academy Award for his portrayal of the young Vito Corleone.
Take a look below at our top 5 picks of Robert De Niro’s best films. With over 135 acting credits and 67 awards, it is tough to pick out De Niro’s best of the best, but we did our best.
Laila Abuelhawa is the Top 40 and Hip-Hop pop culture writer for Beasley Media Group. Being with the company for over three years, Laila's fierce and fabulous red-carpet rankings have earned her a feature on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!' Her favorite stories are those surrounding the latest in celebrity fashion, television and film rankings, and how the world reacts to major celebrity news. With a background in journalism, Laila's stories ensure accuracy and offer background information on stars that you wouldn't have otherwise known. She prides herself in covering stories that inform the public about what is currently happening and what is to come in the ever-changing, ever-evolving media landscape.
