Couldn’t be happier. Robert De Niro shocked fans with the arrival of his seventh child, but the 79-year-old Oscar winner’s reaction to becoming an older dad was quite the opposite.
When asked whether he was surprised by his family’s latest addition at the New York City premiere of his new film About My Father, De Niro simply told Page Six, “No,” noting that the pregnancy was a “planned” one. “How you could not plan that kind of thing?” he added on Tuesday, May 9.
One day earlier, De Niro revealed that he had become a father of seven in an ET Canada interview. He corrected a reporter who asked about his “six kids” by stating, “Seven, actually. I just had a baby.” The mother appears to be his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen.
The Raging Bull star shared more insight about welcoming his new bundle of joy on the About My Father red carpet. The film, which hits theaters May 26, stars De Niro as the fictionalized version of comedian Sebastian Maniscalco’s dad. The father-son duo grow closer while spending a wild and wacky weekend with Maniscalco’s fiancée’s (played by Leslie Bibb) family.
“I’m OK with it. I’m good with it,” the Godfather Part II star told Extra of becoming a dad again, before noting that the job “never gets easier.” He also told Entertainment Tonight that life with his child has been “great” so far.
De Niro welcomed his first child, son Raphael, now 46, in 1976 with his ex-wife Diahnne Abbott. At the time, he also adopted her daughter Drena, now 51, from a previous relationship. He and ex Toukie Smith later welcomed twins Julian and Aaron, 27, in 1988. The Irishman actor also shares son Elliot, 25, and daughter Helen, 11, with ex-wife Grace Hightower.
The Taxi Driver star is a grandfather too. Drena welcomed her son Leo, 19, in 2005, while Raphael shares son Nicholas and daughters Ella and Alexandria with his ex-wife, Claudine DeMatos.
The role of a parent is one De Niro loves to play in real life. “I love my children, just being with them,” the Cape Fear actor exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2019. “It’s not easy. Sometimes it’s fun and you love your kids, and sometimes you want to kill them! Then, when you have the good moments, you forget about the ones that weren’t good.”
As for whether he thinks he’s a “cool” dad, he told ET Canada on Monday, “I’m OK.”
He continued: “You know, 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.”
