Here’s everything to know about Robert De Niro’s 7 children
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Robert De Niro is one of the biggest actors in Hollywood to this date. Throughout his decades-long career in iconic flicks like Taxi Driver and Goodfellas, he has also had many children — specifically, seven kids in total.
However, what some might not know, is that the popular actor has a gap of over 50 years between his eldest and youngest child, as the latter was born in 2023. Robert has had four different relationships, so the family tree is quite broad. Here’s everything to know about all of the Meet the Fockers star’s children and who he welcomed them with.
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Diahnne Abbott
During Robert’s first marriage to Diahnne Abbott, they welcomed two children: daughter Drena De Niro, 53, and son Raphael De Niro, 48. Drena dabbled in modeling and acting, while Raphael currently works in real estate, per his website.
Toukie Smith
Following Robert’s separation from Abbott, he moved on with actress Toukie Smith in 1988. The couple had two children together: twin sons Julian Henry De Niro and Aaron De Niro, born on October 20, 1995. In 2022, Julian played Barack Obama in the Showtime series The First Lady, despite studying computer science and math at NYU. As for Aaron, he is a lot more private compared to his brother, so not much is known.
Grace Hightower
The actor had his fifth child, son Elliot De Niro on March 18, 1998, with his ex-wife Grace Hightower. Elliot is a tennis player on the autism spectrum, and was featured on ESPN’s Special Olympics: 50 Game Changers in 2018.
“Finding things for kids to do is a hard part of the whole situation with parents of kids with special needs,” Robert said in the documentary. “He is more confident when he sees that he is actually good at this. That’s the best self-motivator anyone can have.”
Then, in 2011, Robert and Hightower had another child together — this time, through a surrogate. Their daughter, Helen Grace De Niro, has maintained a close relationship with her father. The two were spotted in 2022 as they spent time together on the Upper East Side of NYC. However, Helen’s parents filed for divorce a few years earlier in 2018.
Tiffany Chen
Robert welcomed his most recent and seventh child, daughter Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro, on April 6, 2023 — and he is raising her with girlfriend Tiffany Chen –– a martial arts instructor who appeared in his 2015 film, The Intern. Although on set is where the two first met, they didn’t romantically connect until around 2021.
“Everything that I’m consumed with or worried about just goes away when I look at her. It’s wondrous,” Robert gushed about Gia in AARP’s The Magazine as part of their February/March 2024 issue.
“When she gets older — who knows? But that very sweet way she has of looking at you, taking you in, thinking and watching and observing.”