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Kelly Rissman
US News Reporter
Robert De Niro said he has “no choice” but to “embrace” aging at 81.
In the latest episode of Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? on Max, the Raging Bull actor candidly spoke about how aging has affected him and how he works. When the CNN anchor and host Chris Wallace asked the two-time Academy Award winner if he “hate[s]” the aging process, the actor replied, “I have no choice.”
“Embrace it,” he added. “Embrace whatever you’ve been given.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the actor also spoke about his family. Wallace asked him about how he’d describe who he is as a father to his seven kids: Drena, 56, Raphael, 47, twins Julian and Aaron, 28, Elliot, 26, and Helen, 12, along with the most recent addition to his brood, Gia, who he welcomed with girlfriend Tiffany Chen in April 2023.
De Niro shares Drena and Raphael with his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, and twins, Julian and Aaron, with ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith. He and his ex-wife, Grace Hightower, share Elliot and Helen.
“I’m trying my best,” he said. “I’m going to put on my gravestone, ‘I tried my best.’”
“Really?” Wallace replied, shocked by De Niro’s honesty.
“I was thinking about that the other day,” the Godfather actor admitted and added that he would also add “Please forgive me for everything that I’ve done” on his grave.
“Why, were you not a good father?” the 76-year-old host probed.
“No! I tried my best,” De Niro said, acknowledging that his acting career often got in the way of him being present with his children. “That’s all I can say.”
“I was busy, of course, but I always loved my kids,” he added.
During an interview with ET Canada, De Niro first announced that he had another child. At the time, interviewer Brittnee Blair stated: “I know you have six kids.”
He corrected her and said: “Seven, actually. I just had a baby.”
In another interview with Access Hollywood, De Niro was asked what it took to be a good father.
“Sometimes, I don’t think people really know what being a good father is,” he responded. However, he corrected himself and added: “Well, they do. You know you have your responsibility.”
The Goodfellas star added that he’s experienced the full spectrum of feelings concerning fatherhood.
“Look, it’s a mystery, it’s a lot of excitement,” he said. “But it’s scary and you do your best.”
