Current:Home > StocksRobert De Niro Admits Girlfriend Tiffany Chen Does the "Heavy Lifting" Raising Their Baby Girl-VaTradeCoin
Robert De Niro Admits Girlfriend Tiffany Chen Does the "Heavy Lifting" Raising Their Baby Girl
View Date:2025-01-07 13:51:37
One role Robert De Niro is experiencing all over again? Fatherhood.
But at 80, child rearing is looking a little bit different for the Killers of the Flower Moon actor, as he revealed that his girlfriend Tiffany Chen takes the lead when it comes to raising 6-month-old daughter Gia.
"It doesn't get easier," Robert said of parenthood in an interview with The Guardian published Oct. 16. "It is what it is. It's OK. I mean, I don't do the heavy lifting. I'm there, I support my girlfriend. But she does the work. And we have help, which is so important."
Baby Gia joins the Oscar winner's six other children: Drena, 51, and Raphael, 46—who he shares with ex Diahnne Abbott—27-year-old twin sons Aaron and Julian with ex Toukie Smith, as well as son Elliot, 25, and daughter Helen, 11, from his marriage to Grace Hightower.
Yet for the Goodfellas star, fatherhood is a joy that never grows old.
In fact, when asked which parts of being a dad he enjoys, Robert replied, "All of it! With a baby it's different to with my 11-year-old. My adult children. My grandchildren. It's all different."
But when Tiffany suffered from Bell's palsy during her postpartum recovery—landing her back in the hospital—the Casino actor was sure to be by her side.
"He was very sweet," she told CBS Morning's Gayle King in July. "He tried to say that he didn't see any difference, he didn't see any change. He was like, 'No…You look fine. Maybe you look a little stern.' And I'm like, 'Really? My whole face is melted on itself.' But he was very strong, very supportive."
Back in May, Robert subtly confirmed he was now a dad of seven when he reflecting on his family life to ET Canada, noting "I just had a baby."
Just days later, Gayle gave insight into Tiffany and Robert's life with their infant sharing that during a phone call, the Taxi Driver star told her "this baby was planned" and she was "brought here by love."
To learn more about the actor's family tree, keep reading.
Robert De Niro met his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, while making 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 actor adopted Diahnne's daughter Drena, born Sept. 3, 1971, when they got married.
De Niro and Abbott's son Raphael was born Nov. 9, 1976. Raphael later recalled the family moving from Los Angeles (where his father was born) to New York (the city his dad is most associated with) when he was about 10, telling The Real Deal it was a major "culture shock."
His parents divorced in 1988.
Drena, whose 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 ("at this point all I wonder is WTF was I doing there ???" she wrote), has remained in show business as an actor and producer.
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."
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.
The 46-year-old 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."
Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, Drena's son with artist ex Carlos Rodriguez, died of a suspected overdose on July 2, 2023. He was 19.
A 20-year-old woman was arrested two weeks later on federal drug distribution charges in connection with Leandro's death, which his mother had quickly attributed to fentanyl-laced pills.
On Aug. 11, 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 and model-actress Touki Smith are parents to twin sons Julian and Aaron, born Oct. 20, 1995.
The actor and Smith, who at one point also owned a catering business that handled the food for then-couple Sean Penn and Madonna's anniversary party, split up in 1996 after eight years together.
While Aaron leads a private life, Julian is an actor who most recently 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.
"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."
De Niro is dad to son Elliot, born March 18, 1998, and daughter Helen Grace, born via surrogate on Dec. 23, 2011, with second wife Grace Hightower.
He married the Precious actress on June 17, 1997. De Niro filed for divorce barely two years later, but they reconciled before the split was official and renewed their vows in 2004.
They again began divorce proceedings in 2018.
When promoting Silver Linings Playbook, in which he played a father of an adult son with bipolar disorder, De Niro opened up about having a child with special needs, telling Katie Couric in 2013, "I don't like to get emotional, but I know exactly what [my character] goes through." In 2016 he shared that Elliott has autism.
De Niro's seventh child was born April 6, 2023.
CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King got to do the name-reveal honors on her show May 11. "How cute is this baby?" she said about the photo of the 1-month-old. "Robert De Niro and his partner, that's Tiffany Chen, are over the moon about this little girl."
The now 80-year-old first told ET Canada that he'd become a father for the seventh time.
"My kids disagree with me at times, and they're respectful," he shared when asked if his children considered him a cool dad. "My daughter [Helen], she's 11, she gives me grief sometimes and I argue with her. I adore her, but, you know. And my youngest now, that'll be more to come. But that's what it is."
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (46)
Related
- A pregnant woman sues for the right to an abortion in challenge to Kentucky’s near-total ban
- Heart and Cheap Trick team up for Royal Flush concert tour: 'Can't wait'
- Changing of the AFC guard? Nah, just same old Patrick Mahomes ... same old Lamar Jackson
- Pentagon releases names of 3 soldiers killed in drone attack in Jordan
- Minnesota man is free after 16 years in prison for murder that prosecutors say he didn’t commit
- Albania’s Constitutional Court says migration deal with Italy can go ahead if approved
- Israel military operation destroys a Gaza cemetery. Israel says Hamas used the site to hide a tunnel
- Dozens are presumed dead after an overloaded boat capsizes on Lake Kivu in Congo
- Former NFL coach Jack Del Rio charged with operating vehicle while intoxicated
- Democratic Biden challenger Dean Phillips asks Wisconsin Supreme Court to put him on ballot
Ranking
- A wayward sea turtle wound up in the Netherlands. A rescue brought it thousands of miles back home
- UN’s top court will rule Friday on its jurisdiction in a Ukraine case over Russia’s genocide claim
- Amber Alert issued for 5-year-old girl believed to be with father accused in mother’s death
- Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco says it will not increase maximum daily production on state orders
- Cowboys owner Jerry Jones responds to CeeDee Lamb's excuse about curtains at AT&T Stadium
- The RNC will meet privately after Trump allies pull resolution to call him the ‘presumptive nominee’
- India’s navy rescues second Iranian-flagged fishing boat hijacked by Somali pirates
- A 22-year-old skier died after colliding into a tree at Aspen Highlands resort
Recommendation
-
Target will be closed on Thanksgiving: Here’s when stores open on Black Friday
-
Pennsylvania high court revives a case challenging Medicaid limits for abortions
-
The RNC will meet privately after Trump allies pull resolution to call him the ‘presumptive nominee’
-
Changing of the AFC guard? Nah, just same old Patrick Mahomes ... same old Lamar Jackson
-
Today's Craig Melvin Replacing Hoda Kotb: Everything to Know About the Beloved Anchor
-
Fans Think Travis Kelce Did This Sweet Gesture for Taylor Swift After Chiefs Championship Game
-
House Republicans release articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas
-
It's so Detroit: Lions' first Super Bowl was in sight before a meltdown for the ages