Robert De Niro received a sweet birthday tribute from his eldest daughter. The “Taxi Driver” star celebrated his 81st birthday Aug. 17.
To mark the occasion, Drena De Niro shared a post on social media dedicated to her father, highlighting some never-before-seen moments on of her dad in a slideshow of photos. She began with a photo of the actor midair as he jumped into the water below. Drena De Niro followed the snapshot with a video of the moment, which captured him diving more than 30 feet head first into the water below.
He assured the onlookers that he was okay once he landed and was treading water. She also shared several more sweet throwback moments of her father posing with his grandchildren, including a photo of Robert De Niro with his granddaughter, Gabriella, and late grandson, Leandro, who died in 2023. “Happy 81st Bday to my Dad and #1 ride or die,” Drena De Niro wrote in the caption.
“Love you with all my ♥️♥️♥️ #BobbyD forever.” Back in June, Robert De Niro reflected on how he's changed as a parent, from having older children to his baby daughter, Gia, who recently celebrated her first birthday. While the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on TODAY June 4, the 80-year-old Hollywood legend was asked by Craig Melvin what he's like as a dad.
"I’m OK," he said bluntly, then breaking out into laughter with the TODAY co-hosts. Al Roker chimed him, asking De Niro how he is as a dad now compared to when he was raising his older kids. "Ask the older ones," the famed actor answered.
"Nothing is perfect in life as we all know, and my older kids, when they're older, they’re more critical. When they’re young like the baby, that’s pure joy, so I’m enjoying that." This comes just days after the Oscar winner, who welcomed daughter Gia with girlfriend Tiffany Chen in April 2023, revealed what his little girl did for her first birthday.
"She had a little cake, it was very nice, sweet," he told " " in a May 31 interview, noting that it was her first time having cake. The Hollywood legend, who first became a father in 1976, noted that Chen is a far more hands-on parent than he is. “I’m there, I support my girlfriend,” the actor explained.
“But she does the work. And we have help, which is so important.” De Niro added that he enjoys “all” aspects of fatherhood.
“With a baby it’s different to with my 11-year-old. My adult children. My grandchildren.
It’s all different,” he shared. De Niro has been married twice. He shares daughter Drena and son Raphael with his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, to whom he was married from 1976 to 1988.
In 1997, De Niro tied the knot with his second wife, Grace Hightower. They welcomed two children, Elliot and Helen, and . De Niro shares his other kids — Julian, Aaron and Gia — with two women he dated.
The father of seven in June 2023 that he's learned a lot from his kids. “Well, I have certain awareness,” he said. “When you’re older, you have awareness of certain things in life, dynamics, everything, family dynamics.
It’s just, you can’t avoid learning some things, and then how you can deal with those, manage them." Read on to learn more about De Niro's kids. In 1976, De Niro adopted his first wife’s daughter, Drena De Niro, according to .
Drena De Niro spoke about her famous family, and her upbringing in the public eye, in an interview with in 2011. “I came from a really creative bunch of people. My grandparents were painters, my mother (Diahnne Abbott) is a great actress.
So, to me, I didn’t really see things the way the public saw stuff. It was just a group of wonderfully crazy, talented people who love each other, and who are doing the best they can," she said. Drena De Niro has made a name for herself in Hollywood as an actor and model.
She played Paulette Stone in "A Star Is Born," Anita in "When They See Us," and Cindy in "Joy." Her son, . Drena De Niro celebrated her dad’s 81st birthday on Aug.
17 with a series of touching posts on social media. In addition to the photo slideshow she posted on Instagram showing off moments of her father from over the years, she shared several Instagram stories marking the occasion. In one frame, she shared a photo from her childhood with her dad holding her up in the air as they posed for the photo.
To caption the moment, she wrote on the post, “Happy Birthday to the King of the jungle.” Drena De Niro shared a second frame to celebrate his birthday, sharing a more recent snap of the father-daughter duo posing side-by-side for a snap. “Happy Birthday To My Favorite Fella,” she added to the frame.
In 1976, De Niro and Abbott welcomed their son, Raphael Eugene De Niro. Raphael De Niro works as a broker at the New York City real estate firm , per the firm's , where he founded the De Niro team. Raphael De Niro married his first wife, Claudine De Niro, in 2008, according to .
He remarried in 2020, wedding Hannah Carnes De Niro, the reported. Following his divorce from Abbott, De Niro was linked to former model, actor and restauranteur Toukie Smith (he gets a mention in her profile). Their twin sons, Julian and Aaron De Niro, were born in 1995.
An actor, Julian De Niro played a young Barack Obama in "The First Lady." In 1998, De Niro welcomed his son Elliot De Niro with his second wife, Grace Hightower. At the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, De Niro revealed his son has autism, according to .
“Grace and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined,” De Niro said. De Niro told in 2019 that he decided to put Elliot in tennis lessons. Although De Niro said his son "wasn’t crazy about it, at times,” he said that Elliot really came into the sport and started to love it over time.
“His mother was good at pushing (him), and wanting him to be physical and work out,” De Niro shared. “He has realized, ‘Oh, I can accomplish this. I can do this,'" Hightower added.
"It has helped him socially." In 2011, De Niro and Hightower welcomed their daughter, Helen. The couple split in 2018.
“Grace and I have two beautiful children together. We are entering a period of transition in our relationship which is a difficult but constructive process,” De Niro said in a statement at the time, according to . “I honor Grace as a wonderful mother and ask for privacy and respect from all as we proceed to develop our roles as partners in parenting.
” Gia is De Niro’s youngest child, welcomed in April 2023 with girlfriend Tiffany Chen. But like most of his other kids, Gia has been kept out of the public eye. In fact, De Niro’s fans didn’t even know that he had a seventh child until the actor that he was in fact, a dad of seven.
“Seven, actually. I just had a baby,” he said. During a De Niro talked about his life at home with Gia and said he's been "very happy" with how things have been going so far, adding that Gia has been sleeping "great.
" He also told in December 2023 that he plans on teaching his daughter both Chinese and English. “(She's) half-Chinese," the "Cape Fear" star said. "I want to try to teach her Chinese and show her nursery rhymes in English and Chinese.
I’m trying to have her learn both.” In January 2024, De Niro also talked about parenting his little girl when he did an interview with . “It’s great,” De Niro said about being a father again at 80.
“Everything that I’m consumed with or worried about just goes away when I look at her. It’s wondrous,” he continued. “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 .
..” added the actor, growing teary-eyed.
De Niro later opened up about life with his daughter in a February 2024 interview with where he called Gia an "adorable" and "sweet" baby. “[When I] look at her, everything else goes away. So it’s a great joy and relief to just be with her in the moment," he said.
As for how his other kids feel about Gia, the dad of seven said they really warmed up to the new edition of the family. “The kids all get a big kick out of her,” he said. “The grandkids even.
She’s their aunt— (and) they’re about to be teenagers!” (June 5, 2024, 8:07 a.m.): An earlier version of this article misstated the year Julian and Aaron De Niro were born.
They were born in 1995, not 2023. Also, an earlier version misstated when Robert De Niro became a dad. This happened in 1976, not 1971.
Joyann Jeffrey is a trending news reporter based in New York City.
