Robert De Niro has seven children with four different women, the youngest of whom he shares with his girlfriend Tiffany Chen, who recently gave birth at 38.
Now 79, internet users slammed the movie star for having another child at his age.
He and his partner have been spotted hanging out with his older biracial children multiple times, including his autistic son.
Robert De Niro is one of the world’s best actors. With at least 144 films under his belt, he’s a veteran that’s had a fantastic career.
Born on August 17, 1943, in Manhattan, New York, De Niro always had art in his blood. His parents, Virginia Admiral and Robert De Niro Sr., were artists.
De Niro is of European descent; his ancestry includes Italian, Irish, Dutch, English, German, and French blood. He learned more about acting at the Stella Adler Conservatory and the American Workshop before getting recognition in “Bang the Drum Slowly” in 1973.
That same year, he starred in “Mean Streets,” his first film with director Martin Scorsese. In 1974, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Scorcese’s “The Godfather Part II.”
De Niro would end up working with Scorsese in eight films in total. As for what makes working together so good, the actor once said it was the director’s ability to give him leeway, other than the fact that Scorcese is directing.
It was only the beginning for De Niro, who would spend years dominating the industry for his versatile acting. He received several nods from the Academy Awards—he was nominated for Best Actor in 1976, 1978, and 1991 for “Taxi Driver,” “The Deer Hunter,” and “Cape Fear” respectively.
He won the same prestigious award in 1980 for his role in “Raging Bull.” Aside from the Oscars, he also has four Golden Globe nominations. He received the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2010.
At 79, De Niro isn’t retired and remains active in the industry, mostly working on movies. His most recent project, “About My Father,” came timely given the state of his personal life.
During a promotional interview for the film, the dad spoke about being a father to his children and his love language. While he doesn’t like to lay down the law, ge said there are times when he needs to. He expounded:
“You always want to do the right thing by the children and give them the benefit of the doubt but sometimes you can’t.”
De Niro doesn’t consider himself a “cool dad,” but just “okay.” He says while he and his children disagree on certain things, they have always been respectful toward him.
During the interview, De Niro caught his interviewer and the public by surprise when he made a candid admission. When the journalist mentioned he had six children, he quickly corrected her and said., “Seven, actually. just had a baby.”
Following the revelation that he welcomed a child at 79, the internet went berzerk. Some felt he was too old to welcome a new baby, given the short amount of time he would have with the child.
“Robert De Niro sired a child who will spend most of his childhood fatherless. The celebrities are so selfish and cringe,” a user wrote. Another wrote that while De Niro’s decision was selfish given he won’t likely see his child reach adulthood, the mother was equally selfish.
One user emphasized that when De Niro is 92 years old, his kid would have only graduated from elementary school. “This kid will barely know dad,” she also wrote.
Another user couldn’t help but discuss the effects of having a child at 79 on the child himself, calling it “highly irresponsible.” He claims the child has an “extremely high chance of autism and other problems.”
De Niro was married twice but has children with four different women. He shares his eldest children, Drena, 51, and Raphael, 46, with his first wife, Diahnne Abbott. He also shares twin sons Aaron and Julian, 27, with ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith. Then he welcomed Elliot, 25, and Helen, 11, with his ex-wife Grace Hightower.
In his own admission, De Niro welcomed his seventh child with girlfriend Tiffany Chen, who gave birth at 38. Speaking about fatherhood at the “About My Father” premiere, he described it as a mystery and a mix of fear and excitement. Ultimately, the actor said the important thing is “you do your best.”
When De Niro married Abbott in 1976, he lovingly adopted her daughter, Drena, from a previous relationship. Drena grew up on film sets thanks to her famous dad. She then began getting gigs as a model, DJ, and actress. He adopted her as his own before they separated in 1988.
Not only was her father an award-winning actor, but her mother was a good actress, too. She also acknowledged De Niro’s parents as her grandparents, proudly sharing they were painters.
Drena grew up following in her parents’ footsteps, taking a break at one point in her life to focus on motherhood. During that time, she lived in the Tribeca neighborhood in New York.
Despite living such public lives as celebrities, one thing Drena has learned from her dad is to keep their personal lives private. “No matter what you’re doing publicly, you have that core of something that you protect,” she once said.
She never details her family’s day-to-day lives in interviews. Rather, she’d speak about them more generally. Sadly, De Niro and Abbott’s marriage ended in 1988, but that didn’t mean Drena’s relationship with her father ended too. In fact, they were often seen attending events together through the years.
In 1995, De Niro welcomed twins Julian and Aaron with Toukie Smith. They were conceived through in vitro fertilization and delivered via surrogacy. Unfortunately, their relationship spiraled soon after.
Julian and Aaron choose to stay away from the spotlight. They’ve rarely made appearances in public through the years.
Two years after splitting from Smith, the “Irishman” actor married actress Grace Hightower. They welcomed Elliot the following year, and a daughter, Helen, in 2011. They split in 2018 after 20 years of marriage.
Elliot, their eldest child, is on the autism spectrum. While De Niro has kept information on his kids private through the years, he admitted that Elliot had autism during an interview in 2016.
To help their son, Hightower and De Niro enrolled Elliot in tennis lessons when he was a young boy. He excels in the sport, and it’s something that makes him happy.
For years, Helen was De Niro’s youngest, and she lit up his world. “She’s a delight. An absolute delight,” he once gushed. “Every time I see her, I light up. How could you not?”
After his separation from Hightower, De Niro had nothing but nice words to say about his ex-wife. He called her a wonderful mother and vowed to continue co-parenting their kids in the best way they could.
De Niro’s children are all biracial so it isn’t surprising he has concerns about them. He once opened up about the fear it brought him due to the way the community is perceived in America. “That’s scary. That has to change,” he said.
More than anything, the actor loves being with his children whenever his time permits. Although it’s a rollercoaster ride of different experiences, De Niro embraces each one.
According to the actor, his ideal relaxing day is reading a book or going someplace quiet with his family, or sometimes, by himself. Aside from his seven kids, De Niro is a proud grandfather to four grandkids.
Robert De Niro’s Life – Then and Now
De Niro grew up in a broken family, with his parents divorcing when he was only three years old. Although he is no longer alive, his dad, Robert De Niro Sr., came out as gay later on in his life.
Despite everything that happened, De Niro loved his parents dearly. He even helped put together a documentary on his dad’s work, titled “Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr.”
The “Taxi Driver” actor felt it was important to do the documentary while his dad’s contemporaries were still alive. He wanted to put it together for his kids and grandkids, for them to know who their father and great-grandfather was.
When asked whether his parenting is the same as his dad’s, De Niro admitted that it’s a personal question he did not want to answer. Instead, he shared how important it is for him to keep his family together, regardless of how fragmented it is, saying:
“[I try to] have everybody have awareness of the family thing, so they look after each other, especially after I’m not around anymore.”
Now that De Niro just welcomed his seventh child with his rumored girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, he has a lot more parenting to do. Chen is a martial arts professional with dozens of world titles and gold medals under her belt.
De Niro and Chen first met while filming a movie together in 2015. Chen had a part in “The Intern,” a movie which De Niro starred in.
In fact, when she was only 26, she was inducted into the martial arts magazine’s Hall of Fame as Competitor of the Year back in 2011. At the time, she admitted that her goal has always been “to learn how to be as great as my father.”
In the same way that De Niro was born into a family of artists, Chen was born into a family of kung-fu athletes. Her dad is Grandmaster William C.C. Chen, a renowned martial arts instructor for Tai Chi.
De Niro and Chen first met while filming a movie together in 2015. Chen had a part in “The Intern,” a movie which De Niro starred in.
In a sighting in New York City during the filming of “The Intern, De Niro was photographed doing Tai Chi. He was at Prospect Park during his outdoor martial arts exercise and surrounded by their crew.
Since then, De Niro and Chen have been photographed in PDA-filled outings several times in the past. Despite this, they never publicly admitted their relationship.
Their public dates include trips out with De Niro’s autistic son Elliot, romantic dinner dates, and European vacations. Now that they have a newborn in their hands, these dates might have to wait a little longer.
In a fresh interview with “CBS Mornings,” De Niro shared a photo of his seventh child for the very first time. He also revealed that he and his girlfriend named their baby girl Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro
The adorable little girl is the perfect mix between Chen and De Niro. The photo showed someone holding Gia up, as she curiously glances at the camera with a neutral facial expression.
