'It’s wondrous': Robert De Niro gets teary-eyed as he says daughter Gia makes all his worries go away
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Robert De Niro, the legendary actor of 'Goodfellas' fame, is enjoying fatherhood at 80.
He shared his feelings, about his nine-month-old daughter Gia, who was born to his girlfriend Tiffany Chen last year, in a candid interview with AARP Magazine.
Robert De Niro says Gia is ‘wondrous’ and makes him forget his troubles
The Oscar winner became emotional as he talked about his youngest child who was born on April 6, 2023.
He said that looking at her makes him feel great and everything else fades away. “It’s wondrous,” he said.
"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 …,” he paused and wiped his eyes, according to the magazine.
De Niro did not reveal Gia’s birth until a month later when he corrected a reporter who asked him about his six children during an interview on ET Canada.
He said he had seven children and added, “I just had a baby.”
Robert De Niro spoke about parenting and balancing between being stern and affectionate
The actor, who was promoting his movie ‘About My Father’ in May 2023 when he declared he had welcomed a seventh child, also discussed the challenges of raising children.
He said he had to balance being affectionate and strict with them.
“I mean, there’s no way around it with kids. I don’t like to have to lay down the law and stuff like that. But, [sometimes] you just have no choice,” he explained.
“And any parent, I think, would say the same thing. You always want to do the right thing by the children and give them the benefit of the doubt but sometimes you can’t," he added.
Robert De Niro has a large and blended family with six other children from previous relationships
De Niro and Chen, who is 45, met in 2015 on the set of 'The Intern' and were seen on a vacation in Spain the next year.
The actor has six other children from his past marriages and affairs. He and his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, have a daughter, Drena, 51, and a son, Raphael, 46.
He also fathered twin sons, Julian and Aaron, 27, with his ex-girlfriend, model and actress Toukie Smith.
He and his former wife, Grace Hightower, have a son, Elliot, 24, and a daughter, Helen Grace, 11.
The 'Killers of the Flower Moon' star also faced heartbreak in July 2023 when his grandson Leandro died at just 19 years of age of "accidental fentanyl overdose."
