Inside Robert De Niro’s close-knit life with seven children as daughter Drena reveals shock death of grandson Leandro
IT’S a family saga worthy of a Hollywood script but the tragic death of Robert De Niro’s grandson, just three months after the birth of his youngest child, is a bitter twist that no one could foresee.
Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, the only son of De Niro’s daughter Drena, passed away on Monday aged just 19.
No cause of death has been announced but Drena, who shared actor Leandro with artist partner Carlos Rodriguez, AKA Mares, posted the heartbreaking message: “I wish that love alone could have saved you.”
It is a bitter blow for devoted dad De Niro, who welcomed daughter Gia with partner Tiffany Chen in April, and likes to keep his family close.
“I love my children, just being with them,” Robert told Us Weekly in 2019. “It’s not easy. Sometimes it’s fun, and you love your kids, and sometimes you want to kill them!”
The actor’s desire for a large family may stem from his own unconventional upbringing as an only child to a single mum.
Abandoned by his dad, a bisexual artist also called Robert De Niro, he was raised in Greenwich Village, New York, by mum Virginia ‘Nin’ Admiral, a hippy poet who made a living writing porn.
De Niro met first wife Diahnne Abbot while working on his Oscar-winning film Taxi Driver.
Actress Diahnne was already mum to Drena, then five, and De Niro adopted her when they wed in 1976.
The same year, they welcomed son Raphael, now 46.
After the couple split in 1988, the children divided their time between Los Angeles, New York and Italy, often spending time on set with their father.
Drena became a model before combining her love of fashion and DJing by becoming a musical supervisor for Giorgio Armani.
She then followed her adopted dad into films, landing her debut role as a receptionist in the 1996 hit Grace of My Heart and going on to take small parts in Wag The Dog, New Year’s Eve and the 2015 comedy The Intern.
Most recently she starred alongside son Leandro in the 2018 Oscar-winning movie A Star is Born, with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
The arrival of Leandro – who she called Leo Rock – made De Niro a grandad for the first time in 2005, and nine years later he forked out £2.25million on a Manhattan apartment for Drena, who had split from Carlos.
First son Raphael
As a child Raphael starred alongside his dad in Awakenings and Raging Bull, before going moving behind the camera, producing a documentary, James Abbott is Gone, in 2013.
Although he is now a director of his dad’s non-profit arts foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, he has moved away from acting, becoming a high end estate agent working with A-list clients including Jon Bon Jovi and Renee Zellweger.
In 2015 he was involved in selling a trio of townhouses worth £95million – York City’s most expensive listing at the time.
Raphael married Claudine de Matos in March 2008 and is dad to three of the star’s grandchildren – Nicholas, 14, Alexandria, 13, and Ella Rose, 11.
He split from his wife in 2008 and married fashion stylist Hannah Carnes in 2020.
DNA shock
In the early 80s, De Niro was living between New York and Hollywood, leaving Diahnne in their Brentwood house while he stayed at the Chateau Marmont – the fabled hotel on Sunset Boulevard.
He began partying hard and had a string of affairs, including a long romance with singer Helena Springs, after chasing her through the streets of LA in his car to ask her out.
She later revealed: “I’d go fast, he’d go fast. I’d slow down, he’d slow down. This a*****e kept following me. I didn’t even know him. Finally, he put his hands in a prayer position and said, ‘Pull over.’ So I stopped and he said, ‘Can we have lunch?'”
After a secret abortion shortly after they met, Helena fell pregnant again in 1982, and claimed the actor launched “a series of ugly and intimidating conversations” aimed at getting her to terminate the pregnancy.
She went ahead with the birth, welcoming daughter Nina on July 1, 1982.
The actor gave her £40,000 to help with the baby’s care, but, after initially spending time with her, he cut contact.
In August 1992, when Helena sued the star for child support, a DNA test revealed the 10-year-old was not his biological child.
Twins
De Niro split from Diahnne in 1988, moving on with actress Toukie Smith that same year.
Twin sons Aaron and Julian were born in October 1995, through IVF, but their parents split a year later.
Aaron has not followed his dad into the film industry, and prefers to stay out of the limelight, although he remains close to his dad.
Julian, however, has taken to the family business, making his film debut in the 2016 movie In Dubious Battle alongside James Franco and Selena Gomez.
He also played a young Barack Obama in the TV film First Lady in 2022.
Autism diagnosis
After Robert and Toukie split in 1996, he began seeing actress Grace Hightower and they wed a year later.
Son Elliot was born in 1998 and the couple split in 1999. They reconciled soon after that, welcoming daughter Helen, born through surrogacy, in 2011.
They called it quits in 2018. During a bitter divorce wrangle, a judge ruled that De Niro’s earnings during their marriage were his “separate property” awarding Grace £4.75million to buy a house.
He also agreed to pay her £800,000 ($1m) a year in child support.
In 2016, De Niro revealed Elliot had been diagnosed with autism.
Elliot is now an accomplished tennis player in the Special Olympics.
“Finding things for kids to do is a hard part of the whole situation with parents of kids with special needs. [Playing tennis] helps him,” Robert said at the games in 2019.
“He is more confident when he sees that he is actually good at this. That’s the best self-motivator anyone can have.”
Dad again at 79
In April this year, while publicising his new film About My Father, De Niro surprised journalists by revealing he had once again become a dad with girlfriend Tiffany Chen.
When asked about his six kids, De Niro corrected the interviewer and said: “Seven, actually,” adding: “I just had a baby”.
In another chat a month later he hinted even more babies might be on the way.
Revealing fatherhood “re–energised” him, he joked: “I’m going to have a new one every year.”
He also opened up about his parenting style, telling ET Canada: “My kids disagree with me at times, and they’re respectful.
“My daughter, 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.”
With all his children being of mixed heritage, he has previously opened up about his fears for them, telling Jimmy Fallon: “My children are all half black and … even me, I take certain things for granted.
“When people say that they tell their kids, ‘Keep your hands [up] when you’re stopped by any cops, keep your hands on the steering wheel, don’t make a sudden move, don’t put your hands below, don’t do this,’ you understand that. That’s scary. That has to change.”
At 79, De Niro is still more prolific than most on screen, with four movies and a TV series released this year alone.
In 2021 De Niro’s lawyer argued in a virtual divorce hearing presided by a Manhattan judge that he is “working at an unsustainable pace” in order “to support Hightower and pay off all his back taxes”.
It hasn’t stopped the committed family man increasing his brood as he approaches his 80s.
But even as he finds joy in the youngest of his family, now just three months old, he will be desperate to support his oldest as she mourns the tragic loss of her “Sweet Angel” Leo.