Robert De Niro REVEALS He Welcomed Baby No. 7
Robert De Niro enjoys having a big family, but he's admitted that comes with some logistical challenges.
"I try to keep us all together," the two-time Oscar winner told Everything Zoomer in 2018. "Have things to do together. Have everybody have awareness of the family thing, so they look after each other, especially after I'm not around anymore. It's a fragmented family. But I try my best to keep everybody together."
The now-79-year-old also said he was too busy to dwell on aging. "I feel young in many ways," he explained. "You hear this from people getting older, they feel young, they don't feel any different, da da da. That's true for me."
Five years later, he doesn't seem to have slowed down in any of life's arenas: On May 8, he told ET Canada that he "just had a baby," making the grandfather of four also a dad to seven.
He didn't have anything to say about who he had his seventh child with, because despite his 50 years of stardom he's led a relatively private life in New York. And that's been entirely by design.
"The way he keeps his personal life intact and separate," 52-year-old daughter Drena De Niro told Everything Zoomer, "that's something I learned from him."
But having seven kids over the course of half a century is a lot to keep track of, so here's a guide to who's who in the De Niro family:
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First Wife Diahnne Abbott
Robert De Niro met his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, while making Taxi Driver, in which Diahnne had a bit part as the ticket taker at a porn theater Travis Bickle patronizes in the gritty 1976 classic and they tied the knot April 28, 1976.
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Daughter Drena De Niro
He adopted Diahnne's daughter Drena, now 52, when they got married.
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Son Raphael De Niro
Their son Raphael was born Nov. 9, 1976. He later recalled the family moving from Los Angeles (where his dad 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."
The actors divorced in 1988.
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Drena and Raphael
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 ???"), 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."
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Grandson Leandro
Drena is mom to Leandro De Niro Rodriguez with artist ex Carlos Rodriguez.
Leandro, born in 2003, has also ventured into the family business and appeared with Drena in 2018's A Star Is Born.
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Twins With Touki Smith
The actor and model Touki Smith are parents to twin sons Julian and Aaron, born Oct. 20, 1995.
Robert and Touki split up in 1996 after about eight years together.
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Julian De Niro
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,'" the Meet the Parents star 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."
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Son Elliot and Daughter Helen With Grace Hightower
He also shares son Elliot, born March 18, 1998, and daughter Helen Grace, born via surrogate in December 2011, with Grace Hightower.
They married in 1997 and the actor 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, he 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.
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Father of Seven
Mum's the word on the identity of his youngest child's mother, but the 79-year-old told ET Canada on May 8, 2023, 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."
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