Robert DeNiro split from his second wife, Grace Hightower, in 2018. They had a messy divorce and they fought over money, although most of the mess wasn’t tabloid fodder. I always assumed that was because DeNiro was and is so beloved by his peers and by all of New York – like, the New York tabloid media doesn’t even want to cover some more gossip-worthy aspects of DeNiro’s life. Which probably explains the distinct lack of reporting around DeNiro’s relationship with Tiffany Chen, whom he met in 2015 and apparently started “dating” when he was still married to Grace Hightower. Chen was seen months ago with what looked like a baby bump. Now DeNiro has confirmed that he welcomed his seventh child at the age of 79.
For Robert De Niro’s upcoming movie “About My Father,” ET Canada sat down with the legendary actor to chat about fatherhood. When asked what his love language is, the famous father, 79, told ET Canada’s Brittnee Blair that he believes “in being loving with [his] kids,” despite sometimes having “to be stern about stuff.”
“I mean, there’s no way around it with kids. I don’t like to have to lay down the law and stuff like that. But, [sometimes] you just have no choice,” he explained. “And any parent, I think, would say the same thing. You always want to do the right thing by the children and give them the benefit of the doubt but sometimes you can’t.”
Then, when Blair said, “I know you have six kids,” De Niro corrected her, saying, “Seven, actually.”
“I just had a baby,” he revealed.
DeNiro’s reps confirmed to the AP that he had welcomed his seventh child. His other kids include: “Drena, 51, and Raphael, 46, from his first marriage; and twins, Julian and Aaron, 27; Elliot, 24; and Helen Grace, 11, from his second marriage.” On a red carpet last night, DeNiro also said that the pregnancy was “planned.” I would assume that means that his girlfriend wanted a baby and he was like “sure.” Yeah. I believe in reproductive freedom and everyone making their own choices about when to have babies or whether to have babies, but good lord – a newborn at the age of 79? A 51-year age difference between his oldest and his youngest? This is some Biblical sh-t.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Robert DeNiro at the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022.,Image: 673582358, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Avalon Licensing Ltd. do not claim any Copyright of the attached image WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, USA – APRIL 28: American actor Robert De Niro arrives at the CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards 2022 held at Omnia Nightclub at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners on April 28, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.,Image: 687084750, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Robert De Niro, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, USA – APRIL 28: American actor Robert De Niro arrives at the CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards 2022 held at Omnia Nightclub at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners on April 28, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.,Image: 687084800, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Robert De Niro, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- Robert De NIro attends the Cinemacon 2022 Big Screen Achievement Awards at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, on April 28, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada,Image: 687274212, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Robert De NIro, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Robert De Niro CHANEL TRIBECA FESTIVAL ARTISTS DINNER,Image: 699629414, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Darian DiCianno/BFA.com / Avalon
My opinion: it’s irresponsible.
I agree. There are lots of articles about older men’s sperm increasing likelihood of birth defects.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/44641#1
Older Men’s Sperm Raise Risk Of Genetic Problems In Offspring
While I am not condoning this, isn’t it possible that they created embryos and tested for certain conditions? I only ask because I am going through the process now since I have a genetic mutation we are hoping to avoid passing down. I’ve learned a lot speaking with Natera (highly recommend by the way, for anyone doing IVF).
Please, let’s not go down this path. Genetic mutations happen in younger parents. Older parents have kids without mutations. Older parents (like myself) qualify for genetic screening to detect and figure that out.
Fun fact: my kid had no genetic mutations. My kid is autistic. It runs in the family. Some people could judge me for being an older parent. Is it my fault that he’s autistic because of my age? Would I tolerate anyone telling me I shouldn’t have had him? Hell, no.
This reminds me of Anthony Quinn making babies with his last wife when he was in his 80s. It is completely irresponsible.
And these men always consider themselves good fathers. Embarrassing.
He may be a good father for the few years he’s around for his child, but that’s not going to be many. He could well be dead before the child hits double figures.
He’s an egomaniac who apparently thinks he’s doing the world a favor by spreading his seed liberally when he’s almost eighty. But the mother of the baby is some kind of lunatic for agreeing to this, if it’s true this was all planned. And, assuming there was no IVF involved, how could she even bring herself to do this. He’s five years older than me and I’m like, “Nope” at the very sight of him. He’s gross.
Good chance it was IVF. The twins and his youngest were born via IVF and surrogates. His oldest is adopted.
That may have to do with his wife or them both than him individually since he had children before her.
That’s a really judgemental comment about someone you don’t even know.
If the mother of the child is Tiffany Chen, she has her own career, she might not want or need his support. Maybe she chose to have a child and is glad for his participation, but doesn’t expect him to be a hands on dad. More importantly, she is an adult woman who made her own decision about her body and her reproductive choices. Isn’t that what we are all fighting to be able to do? So let’s calm down with calling her a lunatic.
That isn’t fair to the kid, in my opinion. Nobody’s saying they can’t do what they want with their bodies. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. If my dad died from old age when I was 10…I’d be pissed knowing he did it on purpose. And I’d be really sad and confused about why my mom chose a man to father me knowing he wouldn’t be my dad for long.
Of course children can grow up happy and healthy in single-parent households and you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but, knowing that you probably won’t live to see your child graduate high school and that they’ll have to process the death of a parent at a young age seems unnecessarily cruel to me.
I recall during his divorce from Grace Hightower, he balked at her requesting a $100k monthly limit on her American Express because he wasn’t financial secure enough to provide that.
I remember him complaining that he was unable to retire from acting because otherwise, his family couldn’t afford the lifestyle they were accustomed to, Covid negatively impacted his investments, and he “only” made $3.5 million from The Irishman. I know, I know, rich people problems.
I don’t know how true any of that is and I know he settled with Hightower by agreeing to pay her $1 million a year.
However, IF he is not financially unstable, it’s wholly irresponsible to produce another mouth that will need care and rearing. That’s in addition to him being old enough there’s a good chance that kid may have no vivid memories of their father.
Just irresponsible all around.
I’m sure it was just his attempt to get out of paying her anything
Um, unable to retire due to the lives that his children have become accustomed to doesn’t sound like the DeNiro rules of fatherhood that he’s trying to sell here!!
It’s wild that his eldest daughter is too old to have given birth to his newest child! (Assuming Drena is a woman’s name?)
That’s an assumption. We have no idea what his eldest daughter reproductive capabilities are. 51 isn’t that old and women can still get pregnant at that age.
Come on now, the woman is 51. The amount of 51 year old women out there who can have a baby without any assistance is so minuscule as to be insignificant.
Must be nice to be a dude and not be defined by your fertility. To be able to squirt out a kid even if you’re gonna kick the bucket soon.
But seriously, I just think this is incredibly selfish. I doubt he really wanted this kid anyway and was just doing it to make his much younger wife happy.
And to make himself look like a real macho dude.
Agree with above – totally responsible given (1) he already has an autistic child with Grace and at the time I remember discussions about both their respective ages and (2) that he’s at the age where men’s health really starts to decline.
On a side note I wonder if by planned he means he used his previous deposits given that is how he had his twins with Tookie ?
I wondered if this was by artificial insemination. Otherwise, it would probably require mega doses of Viagra or Cialis.
I wondered about his kids with Tookie. Were they included in the total kid count with his second wife Grace? Love him as an actor but his romantic life is ridiculous. And his ‘laying down the law’ stuff, do any of his kids even live with him or do their mothers do most of the parenting?
@BeanieBean Toukie’s twins are included in the baby daddy count above :
““Drena, 51, and Raphael, 46, from his first marriage; and twins, Julian and Aaron, 27; Elliot, 24; and Helen Grace, 11, from his second marriage.””
^^ twins Julian (Henry) and Aaron (Kendrick). They were conceived by IVF and born at the tail end of their 10 year relationship via surrogate. Again there seems to be some overlap in his relationship with Tookie and Grace so he seems to have form for this.
There is also only a two year gap between Tookie’s twins and Elliot (Grace’s son). I remember at the time RD had some pretty heavyweight PR surrounding Grace’s public launch into his life, almost like he was trying to hide something and she went from air hostess to sitting on the board of a number of philanthropic causes including the Tribeca Film Festival. It felt like a very staged image rehab, especially given they separated a year after Elliot was born and he hired some heavy gun lawyers to get sole custody. Then out of nowhere they get back together and renew their vows. I have always felt like he found something out after the initial rehabbing which he initially struggled to accept.
They finally broke up because she essentially got old.
You know his other kids just saw their inheritance drop. As my grandma used to say, ain’t no fool like an old fool.
Good God. And exactly how involved will he be in the raising of this child? Probably very little I’m guessing….
I am imagining him having difficulty simply lifting his child up in the air within a year or two. RDN is setting up his child to be fatherless before he hits double digits which is cruel as @ SarahCS stated. This will end badly, very badly for everyone involved.
Fatherhood at 79 is completely for his own ego. And is irresponsible.
I imagine it is more for her financial security. From her perspective.
DeNiro at one time was considered to be the greatest acting talent of his generation by many people.
He shot that in the foot when he started ranting about his opinions on politics, anti-vaxx, his personal life has made tabloids headlines for decades.
He tried saying he was so broke during his last divorce that was why he kept turning out lousy movie after lousy movie, Bad Grandpa, anyone?
Who thinks having a 7th child at 79 years old is macho or what?
Irresponsible, foolish, unnecessary.
If he was a plumber, not a wealthy celeb people would call him A Fool or A randy old goat to his face, in my area.
Yuck. That woman must really be hard up for cash, otherwise, why? My father is close to his age and he can barely be bothered to have a conversation most times. Imagine playing with a toddler?
I agree with everyone here. It’s so foolish, so irresponsible, incredibly selfish, and I could go on an on.
I am pushing 50 here and have a 15 year old. It’s the most exhausting thing I’ve ever done. Luckily I was still in my 30s when he was a toddler, I had the energy to play tag, hide and seek, throw him around int he pool, crouch down on the ground and play all kinds of racing games with cars (he has no sibling, so it was me who played when friends weren’t over). As he got older now I am driving him everywhere – he plays a high level sport so it’s a whole lot of running around New England. There’s practice, training, extra lessons, etc. That’s not counting school. I put over 20k miles on my car this year just driving him to school and his sporting activity – which is a lot and intense at AAA.
I love this kid. Love living with him and he’s a delight. I seriously hit the parent lotto. And yet, I cannot wait for college because I am so frigging tired. I cannot wait to get back to me. I am physically tired. I can’t crouch on the floor anymore or do any of the things I did when he was small. At 50. Okay young enough to be DeNiro’s daughter.
Yes he will have more help than me but money isn’t everything. What parent can one possibly be at 80? Come on!
And they have the offing nerve to regulate women’s bodies! While DeNiro has one foot in the grave making babies and Elon and Nick Cannon try to populate the earth themselves. It’s gross the way they are allowed to carry on UN-INTERFERED WITH.
PREACH!!!! Louder for the fools that you mentioned!!!
Utterly disgusting, selfish and disgraceful.
I had my boys at age 36 and 37, twenty months apart. My ex is the same age as I am. I had pre-term labor with my second son, but did go to term, and almost delivered him in the car because my laboring had been going on for weeks!
I love them more than anything. It was really tough when they were young, but they have grown up to be wonderful young men (now 23 and 21). Having some issues with the 23 year old now. He’s living with his dad and can’t seem to find a job in computer science (he also has a Japanese minor). He’s definitely a disillusioned Gen-Z. When they get older, you have to learn when to step back, but you still need to be there as a parent..
Which won’t be the case with Deniro, a 79 year old new father. WTH! First, what kind of father will he make and how long will he be able to be hands on? He probably won’t live to his child’s college graduation.
No indication as to whether it was his sperm for sure, but I’m guessing with his machismo yes.
So second-“geriatric” sperm can cause congenital and/or genetic problems. Mental disorders especially: autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders. These are disorders that can’t be diagnosed in utero (not sure about genetic testing with these) or at least up until pre-school. The risk of these disorders increases with paternal age.
So guess what, guys, it’s not just elderly eggs that are a problem!
If you’re a fan of reading abstracts:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4455614/
So, just because it was planned doesn’t mean it was responsible…
Ravensdaughter, I have a sibling with schizophrenia, there is no family history of severe mental illness and at the time it was “blamed” on the fact that my dad was in his mid-forties when my brother was born. Imagine the risks at 79! Such a bad idea for all the reasons everyone on here is saying. Also, FWIW both my young adult children are studying STEM related fields and the job market does seem to be pretty strong. Very cool about the Japanese minor as well! Hang in there, he’ll figure it out 🙂
I want to marry your comment, Side Eye, I could not agree with you more if I actively tried. I’m 48 with a 13 year old, and I am delighted to be able to see his adulthood from here. I cannot imagine having another now, much less at almost 80.
This is nothing but vanity, and people will slap him on the back and joke about his virility while simultaneously legislating women’s bodies. Super, add another kid to the tally who will have deep daddy issues. They are completely unavoidable when you have a child you know you won’t see to adulthood.
I’m 55 with a 16-year-old son — and I’ve always been a sole parent. In my late 30s/early 40s, I didn’t have any big problems keeping up with a newborn/toddler.
But I wouldn’t want to try that at my current age — alone or with a partner — let alone 25 years from now. It’s one thing to take over parenting at an older age when circumstances force the situation — like grandparents who need to take custody of grandkids. But to choose parenting at that age is thoughtless. My mom was a very sprightly and active 73 when my son was born — and I still didn’t even consider asking her to do regular child care, which she had done for his older cousins in her early 60s. (She just turned 90, and is still badass and out gardening every day.)
But DeNiro’s partner is probably doing all of the heavy lifting, literally and figuratively. But what worries me is the grief his younger children will have likely losing him at a young age. My son doesn’t feel any sense of loss for not having his donor present in his life. But he feels a deep sense of loss for losing his grandfather at 5 and a great-uncle that was like a second grandfather at 9.
All great points @Malificent, you are absolutely correct – this decision was really selfish and thoughtless. The grief of losing a parent early never leaves you.
You are also coming from this from what I am assuming is the role of primary caretaker. Which he is most assuredly NOT. It’s very easy for someone like him to have young kids because he’s not the one taking care of them!
Thank you @BothSidesNow, RavensDaughter, and Christine for your comments! I completely agree with you. Christine “I want to marry your comment” was absolutely awesome 😂
Can you imagine if it were women doing this – the GOP would hail this as a national crisis that is ruining the very fabric of our society! The problem is not mass shootings – it’s these selfish, loose, irresponsible 80 year old women bringing children into the world that they are not raising! This must be stopped!!!!
It’s all so infuriating. I’m so glad I wasn’t there live at his announcement, I would not even have been able to fix my face – another thing that happens when you hit 50 😀
This is gross. He actually said in the interview that he has “super sperm” or something like that. No one should be having children this late. This reminds me of a news story I saw about a woman in India who did IVF in her mid 70’s. She used donated eggs and her husband’s sperm. I think there needs to be a limit. The pregnancy was brutal on her body. No doctor should have allowed that.
I agree with all of the comments here, this is absolutely irresponsible.
I also agree with the keeping up with a toddler. There is almost 10 years between my kids and the second one was a lot tougher to keep up with and I was young when I had both (18 and 27). I now have grandkids and I can’t keep up with them for long and I am not quite 50. There is no way in hell someone who is almost 80 is doing any of the hard work with a newborn then toddler.
I gotta go off here. I’m reading so many comments about how he’s “irresponsible” to have a child at an advanced age, when the rosk of varous mutations and disorders increases.
Can we discuss the underlying ableism on display here? What you are saying is that is is better if disabled children are never born. Stop and think about that. You are saying that it is better if disabled people, with their support needs and expensive care requirements, never enter the world at all.
I’m not a De Niro fan. I’m the mom of a disabled kid. If I knew my kid would be disabled, should I have aborted him? Should I have stopped trying to get pregnant after 35? Would the world be better without my kid in it?
Please listen to what you’re telling every disabled person reading your comments.
Does the woman’s age being 45 matter? I think it does. Sounds like an oops to me, she didn’t think she could get pregnant anymore. I am 42 and would be stunned if I got pregnant, particularly since I have Pcos and have been told I can only have kids via IVF.