Robert De Niro, 79, welcomes seventh child: all we know about his family
Robert De Niro, at 79, has another newborn on his hands! The Oscar winning actor, who already has six kids, has announced he welcomed his seventh child this year.
Though he didn't disclose any information about the baby's mother, sex, or place of birth, he opened up about parenting and his newborn in a new sitdown interview with ET Canada.
While discussing fatherhood as it relates to his new movie About My Father, a father-son adventure costarring Sebastian Maniscalco, the actor confirmed he had recently become a father of seven.
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When asked about his six kids, De Niro corrected the interviewer with "Seven, actually," adding: "I just had a baby," though he didn't elaborate any further. His other six children are Drena, Raphael, Julian, Aaron, Elliot, and Helen Grace, which he shares with three different women.
Drena, 51, and Raphael, 46, he shares with his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, 78, who he married in 1976 and officially divorced from in 1988. Drena is Diahhne's daughter from a previous relationship, though De Niro adopted her and she took his last name when he married Diahnne. Raphael is his first biological child and oldest son.
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He welcomed twin sons Julian and Aaron, 27, with his former girlfriend, model and actress Toukie Smith, 70, who he was with from 1985 until 1992.
His second wife was Grace Hightower, 68; they were married from 1997 until 2018, and they share Elliot, 24, and Helen Grace, 11. They briefly separated between the births of their two kids.
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De Niro also has four grandkids, three from his son Raphael, who is a real estate broker, and one from his daughter Drena, also an actress and filmmaker.
Further discussing his approach to parenting his children with ET, despite some of his already being adults with kids of their own, he 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," adding: "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."
He previously explained his approach to parenting, particularly whether his kids should follow in his acting footsteps, with People, when he recalled teaching his kids: "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."
"That's the most I would say," he said, adding: "Push yourself a little more and reach for what you really think it is you want to do. Don't be afraid," and that: "It's important for them to find their own lane."
De Niro's new film about a father-son relationship, About My Father, is out May 26, and per IMDb, the plot reads: "When Sebastian tells his old-school Italian immigrant father Salvo that he is going to propose to his all-American girlfriend, Salvo insists on crashing a weekend with her wealthy and exceedingly eccentric family."
Scroll below for more photos of DeNiro's family.
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