Yahoo News Robert De Niro: Who are his seven children?
The 79-year-old Meet The Parents star has just confirmed he has had a seventh baby.
Robert De Niro has just confirmed he has just become a father of seven at the age of 79.
The Meet The Parents star corrected a journalist during an interview with ET Canada who asked him about being father to six children.
De Niro told her: "Seven actually. I just had a baby."
The Oscar-winning actor will be 90 when his new child starts high school. The Dirty Grandpa star has four grandchildren, the eldest of which was born in 2005.
Read more: As Robert De Niro welcomes 7th child at 79, we chart the older celebrity dads' club
De Niro had his first child in 1976 and is now a father to a total of seven kids with four different women.
Let's meet the mothers of The Godfather Part II star's offspring.
Tiffany Chen: Gia Virginia
Martial arts trainer Tiffany Chen worked with De Niro during 2015 movie The Intern when she taught him and co-star Anne Hathaway Tai Chi in a park.
Watch more here: Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway take up Tai Chi (Splash News, video)
They were first rumoured to be a couple in July 2022 when they were pictured holding hands. In March 2023, De Niro was photographed supporting a pregnant Chen as they left a restaurant in Santa Monica.
A representative for De Niro has confirmed he is now a father of seven, and welcomed Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro in early April.
Grace Hightower: Elliot & Helen
The Raging Bull star married second wife Grace Hightower, 68, in 1997. The Mississippi-born air hostess is thought to have met the actor while working at Chinese restaurant and celebrity hangout Mr Chow.
The couple welcomed son Elliot in 1998 and split in 1999.
But they rekindled their relationship and renewed their vows in 2004, before welcoming daughter Helen, 11, via a surrogate in 2011.
In 2016 De Niro revealed that Elliot, now 25, has autism and sparked controversy when he spoke out at the Tribeca film festival about conspiracy theories linking childhood vaccinations to autism.
Read more here: Why Robert De Niro promoted - then pulled - anti-vaccine documentary (Fortune, 3 min read)
Elliot is a big fan of tennis and in 2019 featured in ESPN's Special Olympics.
De Niro said: "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. He is more confident when he sees that he is actually good at this. That’s the best self-motivator anyone can have.”
De Niro and Hightower finally separated for good in 2018 after over 20 years of marriage. During their divorce settlement the actor's lawyer claimed Hightower had an expensive lifestyle that forced De Niro — who has appeared in over 100 films — to take on more work than he would have liked to.
Read more here: Robert De Niro won’t be splitting his $500m fortune in divorce settlement (Atlanta Black Star, 2 min read)
Following the split he said, "I honour Grace as a wonderful mother."
Toukie Smith: Julian and Aaron
The Taxi Driver star was in a relationship with model Toukie Smith, 70, between 1988 and 1996. They have twin sons Julian and Aaron conceived through IVF and born via a surrogate in 1995.
While Aaron, 27, has stayed out of the limelight, his twin Julian has followed in their father's footsteps and become an actor.
Julian De Niro appeared alongside Selena Gomez and James Franco in costume drama In Dubious Battle in 2016 and played a young Barack Obama in Showtime TV series The First Lady.
Di Niro has said of his children becoming actors themselves: "For my kids, I tell them, ‘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 - push yourself a little more and reach for what you really think it is you want to do. Don’t be afraid. It’s important for them to find their own lane.”
Read more here: 'The First Lady's young Barack Obama is Robert De Niro's son Julian (Popsugar, 1 min read)
Diahnne Abbott: Raphael & Drena
De Niro married actor Diahnne Abbott, 78, in 1976. She had a supporting role in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, in which he starred. Abbott also played De Niro's love interest in Scorsese's 1983 film, The King of Comedy.
The couple are parents to 46-year-old estate agent son Raphael. As a child Raphael also followed his parents into acting and had a role in Raging Bull alongside his dad.
During their marriage De Niro adopted Abbott's daughter Drena, 51, and she also took the surname De Niro.
De Niro spoke to Jimmy Fallon in 2020 amid the height of the Black Lives Matter movement about the concerns he had for his children growing up as biracial.
He said: "My children are all half black and I don't have, even me, I take certain things for granted. When people say that they tell their kids, 'Keep your hands [out] 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.
Read more here: Robert De Niro opens up on raising biracial children (People, 2 min read)
"That's scary. That has to change."
Watch: Robert De Niro confirms he has had a seventh child
