Robert De Niro might be 79 years old, but he’s showing no signs of slowing down. Not with acting, not with red carpet appearances, and not with, erm… making babies.
According to new reports, the legendary performer recently welcomed his seventh child into the world. The Goodfellas star himself appeared to confirm the news earlier this week that he had indeed become a father again.
As per The Sun, De Niro was asked by a reporter with ET Canada what it was like to father six children.
De Niro, on hand to promote his new film, the aptly name About My Father, replied with a straight face: “Seven actually. I just had a baby.”
Cue headlines the world over. De Niro stopped short of announcing the baby’s gender, and didn’t reveal who the mother was, but the mere fact that he’s become a father again at 79 was enough to grab people’s attention.
The award-winning actor then moved to assure fans that the announcement wasn’t a hoax, with his representative confirming the news to CNN yesterday.
Speaking on being a dad, De Niro said “I don’t think I’m a cool dad,” and added that he believes “in being loving with [his] kids,” despite sometimes having “to be stern about stuff.”
The Godfather star said: “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 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.”
The iconic actor split from Grace Hightower, his wife of 20 years, in 2018 and has been romantically linked with a number of women since then. As per The Sun, he was most recently speculated to be seeing martial arts instructor Tiffany Chen, with the pair spotted holding hands in July of 2022.
De Niro shares two children with first wife Diahnne Abbott, Drena, 51, and Raphael, 46. He has another two – Elliot, 25, and Helen, 11 – with his second wife, Grace.
The actor also has twin sons Aaron and Julian, 27, with Toukie Smith.
In 2021, De Niro’s lawyer claimed that he was being “forced to work” despite his advanced years to afford his ex-wife’s luxurious lifestyle.
De Niro’s lawyer, Caroline Krauss, claimed that Grace Hightower has “a thirst for Stella McCartney” and even bought a $1 million-plus diamond ring, as reported by Page Six. Business Insider, meanwhile, wrote that De Niro cut Grace’s monthly credit card limit from $100,000 to $50,000 in a bid to reduce her spending.
“Mr. De Niro is 77 years old, and while he loves his craft, he should not be forced to work at this prodigious pace because he has to,” Krauss told a Manhattan judge during a virtual divorce hearing in 2021, as reported by Page Six.
“When does that stop? When does he get the opportunity to not take every project that comes along and not work six-day weeks, 12-hour days so he can keep pace with Ms. Hightower’s thirst for Stella McCartney?” she added.
“He could get sick tomorrow, and the party’s over.”
Whatever else he may be, I think we can all agree that Robert De Niro has proven himself to be an attentive and loving father.
Join us in congratulating the actor on the birth of his seventh child!
