Robert De Niro has shared a key rule he follows when it comes to parenting his seven kids.

De Niro’s children drastically range in ages, with his eldest child being 57 while his youngest daughter Gia is just two-years-old.

In recent weeks his daughter Airyn, came out transgender. In an emotional interview, the 29-year-old told Them magazine that debuting her new feminine look ‘felt right’.

“I feel like I’m meant to be doing this,” she added.

Going on to note a media article about her which referred to her as De Niro’s son and as a ‘nepo baby’, Airyn said: “Not only did they get information wrong about me… They just sort of reminded me that people really don’t know anything about me.”

Airyn De Niro publicly came out as trans in April (@voiceofairyn/Instagram)

It was such an article with threw Airyn into the spotlight unexpectedly after having previously had a largely private life.

She said of this: “I am grateful that both my parents agreed to keep me out of the limelight. They wanted it very private. They have told me they wanted me to have as much of a normal childhood as possible.”

Airyn admitted that she was nervous about how her loved ones would react to her transition, but her famous father has made his support for her clear.

“I love and support Airyn as my daughter. I don’t know what the big deal is. I love all my children,” he said of his daughter’s new chapter.

Now, De Niro has shared more details on his parenting technique.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the father-of-seven said: “The main thing is to support your kids. As long as they’re not hurting themselves, doing anything destructive or anything like that, you have to support them — period.”

The Irishman star continued: “They have to know that you support them. Always.”

Robert De Niro pictured with his partner Tiffany Chen (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)

De Niro also made some rare remarks about his two-year-old daughter Gia, whom he shares with girlfriend Tiffany Chen, 46.

“She’s just pure joy,” he said of his youngest child. “She’s two now, so as they get older and older then… you know? But it’s always wonderful. Pure joy, what can I say?”

Reportedly Chen and De Niro met on the set of the actor’s 2015 movie The Intern, which he starred in alongside Anne Hathaway.

Then in 2021 the pair were pictured on vacation in France together and sharing a kiss, seemingly confirming their romance.

Fast forward to 2023 and they quietly welcomed daughter Gia, De Niro’s seventh child.

Featured Image Credit: Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/WireImage via Getty Images / @voiceofairyn/Instagram

Topics: Robert De Niro, Parenting, Transgender, Celebrity

Niamh Shackleton

Robert De Niro has shared his reaction after one of his seven children, Airyn, came out as transgender at 29 years old.

De Niro, 81, shares his kids with Diahnne Abbott, Toukie Smith, Grace Hightower and Tiffany Chen, having welcomed his newest addition to the family with Chen in April 2023.

Airyn came along in 1995, when she and her twin, Julian, were born while De Niro was in a relationship with Smith, who he split up with the following year.

Airyn has now come out as transgender in an interview with Them, revealing that she struggled to fit into ‘beauty standards’ and was always told she was ‘too much of something or not enough of something’ while growing up.

Airyn De Niro said she was inspired by other trans women speaking out (Instagram/voiceofairyn)

Then, after she saw other trans women opening up about their transitions, Airyn began undergoing hormone therapy in November.

She explained: “Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success… I’m like, you know what? Maybe it’s not too late for me. Maybe I can start.”

Airyn did express concerns that her family would ‘maybe still think of [her] as the person [she] was before the transition’, and now in the wake of Airyn’s announcement, De Niro spoke to People about his reaction.

The actor made clear that his feelings about Airyn have not changed at all as he said he had always ‘loved and supported’ his child, adding: “I love and support Airyn as my daughter. I don’t know what the big deal is. I love all my children.”

In her interview, Airyn praised her parents for keeping her ‘out of the limelight’, explaining that they wanted her childhood to be ‘very private’.

Robert De Niro shares his twins with Toukie Smith (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

“They have told me they wanted me to have as much of a normal childhood as possible,” she said.

Still, as the daughter of one of the best-known actors in Hollywood, Airyn did receive attention.

She said: “There’s a difference between being visible and being seen, I’ve been visible. I don’t think I’ve been seen yet.”

Moving forward, Airyn is now studying to become a mental health counselor and is keen to make success happen ‘on [her] own merit’, with her dad being keen on his kids ‘finding [their] own sort of path’.

Airyn also hopes to be an inspiration for other people who might be struggling with their identity, saying: “I’d want to hopefully be an inspiration for at least one other person like me who is Black, who is queer, who’s not a size extra small.

“I’d want to see more trans women, more Black women who are maybe bigger-bodied or don’t fit the mold of super thin or heroin chic.”

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT national hotline at 888-843-4564, available Monday to Friday 4pm-12am ET and 12pm-5pm ET on Saturdays.

Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Dia Dipasupil/Instagram/voiceofairyn

Topics: Robert De Niro, Transgender, Hollywood, LGBTQ, Celebrity

Emily Brown

 

Robert De Niro has revealed an insight into filming his dual role in The Alto Knights, and some of the challenges he faced playing opposing New York mafia bosses.

De Niro is certainly no stranger to a gangster role – Heat, The Irishman, the list is pretty endless – but playing two mob bosses in the same movie?

Well, the 81-year-old actor, considered a master of his craft and praised by both Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese as one of the best actors of all time, admits to UNILAD there were certain challenges even he faced when donning the two gangster hats.

In The Alto Knights, De Niro takes on the roles of two of New York’s most notorious organized crime bosses – Frank Costello and Vito Genovese.

The pair were childhood best friends, but ultimately ended up foes. Costello became a highly influential public figure alongside his mafia boss status, while Genovese ended up dethroned after getting stuck in Europe before coming back and creating ‘chaos’, as De Niro puts it.

De Niro tells UNILAD he spent some serious time with director Barry Levinson and really went over how Nicholas Pileggi ‘wrote the script’ in order to figure out how to make each character ‘distinct enough’.

Noting what a ‘big help’ it was to find so many books on the pair, he continues: “Part of it is just following your instincts about what you do all the research on. Then just kind of jump in and do it and see where it goes, if it works. […] So that’s what I did.”

However, De Niro didn’t just have the characterizations of the pair to think about, but also the ‘technical’ challenge of when the duo were in the same scene together.

Robert De Niro stars as both Frank Costello and Vito Genovese (Warner Bros. UK and Ireland)

“When I had scenes with myself, you can’t cross a line visually, because […] it’s like a split-screen type thing,” De Niro explains. “We had to those technical things of where to stay and how close to [get] to this chair or something – so if you go past that, you’re not in a shot anymore.”

The actor also notes the overlaps in speech between Costello and Genovese – ‘important’ given it’s the ‘way people talk in life’ – which meant they had to get another actor who was playing one of the other mafia characters to stand in and read back to De Niro.

“I was looking for one of them to play Costello when I was playing Genovese and visa versa,” De Niro says. “I found this one guy, Joe Bacino – he’s terrific […] And he learned both parts, and it was a great, great help.”

Even in the face of any challenges, De Niro reflects on acting as ‘kind of a release in a certain way’.

He resolves: “Especially if you feel you’ve done a good job for that day, you got the scene right and you’ve got things that you never expected, that’s even better.”

The Alto Knights is in cinemas from 21 March

Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros. UK & Ireland

Topics: Robert De Niro, Film and TV, Entertainment

Poppy Bilderbeck

 

Netflix fans are hailing a new political-thriller starring Robert De Niro a ’10/10.’

The world’s largest streaming platform isn’t short of miniseries to watch, and while some of them are a bit older (but still worthwhile) like this ‘breathtaking’ crime drama fans are binging in one afternoon, they’re also adding new TV shows as we speak.

This six-part series follows the fallout of a catastrophic 60-second cyber attack which sees more than 3,4000 Americans killed.

With the threat of another on the horizon, former US president George Mullen (De Niro) is pulled out of retirement to investigate the attack.

The six-part series released on February 20 (Netflix)

But with a ‘sociopath billionaire’ and CEO of a mega tech corporation behind the attack, Mullen needs to think fast to put an end to the life-altering chaos that’s ensured.

From Narcos showrunner Eric Newman, the new series is called Zero Day.

It debuted on Netflix on Thursday February 20 and you can watch its nail-biting trailer below.

Zero Day’s star-studded cast includes Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen, Gaby Hoffmann, Angela Bassett and Matthew Modine.

Posting to the Netflix Bangers Facebook group, one subscriber asked what people thought of the new miniseries.

“Brilliant!! Binged it in two days. Totally worth the watch,” one fan responded, as a second admitted: “I’m honestly watching it again!!! Amazing and so informative!! Robert De Niro knocks out of the ballpark.”

“De Niro at his acting best,” a third said, as a fourth reckoned: “All of the world should watch it!!! The story line the acting – just wow!!”

Over on X, viewers were also singing the show’s praises, rating it a ’10/10′.

One person penned: “Moved onto Zero Day and it’s an intense show can’t lie I’m loving it. Cast is 10/10.”

A second weighed in: “Zero Day was just exactly the quality mind boggling conspiracy theory movie I’d be dying to see for a while now.

“10 out of freaking 10!”

Gaby Hoffman features in Zero Day (Netflix)

A third added: “Zero Day on Netflix is so good! Binged the whole thing in one night!!”

Another fan reckoned that the first four episodes are a ‘little slow’ but the final two make up for it.

However, the miniseries’ Rotten Tomatoes scores don’t appear to match up to its social media hype.

Critics have rated it a measly 56 percent across 54 reviews, with people complaining about some of the show’s awkward dialogue.

Fans have rated it even lower at 49 percent – although among the negative reviews were plenty of people defending the ‘edge-of-your-seat’ show.

Zero Day is available to stream now on Netflix.

Featured Image Credit: Netflix

Topics: Film and TV, Netflix, Politics, Robert De Niro, Technology

Ellie Kemp

Jennifer Lawrence has opened up about her ‘awful’ experience being a bride and her interaction with Robert De Niro on her wedding day.

After dating for around a year, Lawrence tied the knot with her husband, Cooke Maroney, in 2019 in Newport, Rhode Island.

However, the Silver Linings Playbook actor has admitted her experience of her wedding day was a bit more ‘stressful’ than she would’ve first imagined it to be.

The 34-year-old opened up about her wedding day when chatting with E!News at the Golden Globes in December 2023, reflecting on her day as a bride being ‘awful’.

She explained: “It’s so stressful. You’re not having fun. You’re just like, ‘Is that person having fun?’”

The actor found herself overthinking everything and worrying about whether the guests were having a good time and were doing okay.

“I’ll never forget—I was freaking out about the guests being cold,” she continued, “And all of my friends were lying they’re like, ‘Nobody’s cold, nobody’s cold, everything’s fine, everything’s fine.’”

Jennifer Lawrence said her wedding day was ‘stressful’ (Getty Images/ Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

Lawrence’s guests included stars such as Adele, Amy Schumer, Emma Stone, and Kris Jenner, and despite what her friends were telling her, everything was not fine.

Lawrence’s mom, Karen, eventually admitted that it was ‘freezing’, telling her daughter: “Your grandmother almost died.”

The stress wasn’t limited to the wedding day itself, either, as Lawrence went on to admit that she was just as conscious about guests at her rehearsal dinner.

Robert De Niro was among those lucky enough to have landed an invite to the event, but Lawrence seemed to regret the offer after he turned up.

Robert De Niro attended Jennifer Lawrence’s wedding (Christopher Polk/Getty Images for BFCA)

She explained: “I looked over and I saw Bob, who doesn’t know anybody and he’s kind of wandering around, and I immediately was like, ‘No, this isn’t what he wants to be doing. I don’t want him here’.

“So I went over and whispered, I was like, ‘Go home’ and he was nice—he like talked to my parents and was polite—but I was like, ‘Go.’”

While De Niro probably could have stuck it out if he wanted to, Lawrence revealed that he succumbed to the bride’s wishes and went home.

“That just genuinely made me feel better,” the Hunger Games star admitted.

Though her wedding day might not have been the blissful day she’d hoped for, it did mark the start of her family life with Maroney, which has since expanded to include their son, Cy.