Robert De Niro may be 81 years old, but that hasn’t stopped him from enjoying time with his 22-month-old daughter, Gia, the youngest of his seven children.
The veteran actor opened up about his daily life as a parent to an infant on The Scott Mills Breakfast Show, sharing all about his favorite pastime with Gia.
“I just want to keep up; but I watch current events, if you will, news [and] stuff like that,” he told the host.
“Now I watch, with my little girl, The Wiggles and Ms. Rachel.” He continued, “I didn’t know of them until I started seeing them, and my daughter loves to watch them,” he added. “But they’re great!”
Robert welcomed Gia with his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, in April 2023, a month before making their first appearance together as a couple at the Killers of the Flower Moon premiere.
The Taxi Driver actor is a father to six other children, whom he shares with three women.
He shared Drena, 53, and Raphael, 48, with his first wife, Diahnne Abbott; the pair sadly split in 1988.
He welcomed twins Julian and Aaron, 29, with his former girlfriend, Toukie Smith, and shares Elliot, 26, and Helen Grace, 13, with his ex-wife, Grace Hightower.
Gia is his seventh child, and he revealed to People how wonderful it was to have a baby in his life again.
© Tasos Katopodis“She’s such an adorable baby. So sweet,” he told the publication. “[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.“
The proud dad added that his parenting had changed since he welcomed his older kids. “I always say it’s pure joy. That’s it,” he said of fatherhood in a Today interview.
“I mean nothing is perfect in life, as we all know,” he continued. “And my older kids…as [they] get older, you know, they’re more critical. When they’re young, like the baby, that’s pure joy, period. So I’m enjoying that.”
© CBSDespite the joy of welcoming baby Gia, Tiffany shared that she experienced a terrifying health scare following the birth that left her face partially paralyzed.
She was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy after Gia was born, a neurological condition which occurs when part of the face experiences paralysis and the nerves that control the facial muscles malfunction.
She described her condition on CBS Mornings, explaining: “It was like everything was starting to just fall down on itself. Like, my face was melting on itself. And then a week after giving birth, that was when it all hit.”
© Amy SussmanHowever, Robert was by her side during the ordeal and bolstered her confidence. “He tried to say that he didn’t see any difference, he didn’t see any change,” she said. “He was like ‘No…You look fine.‘ He’s like, ‘Maybe you look a little stern.‘”
“And I’m like ‘Really?‘ My whole face has melted on itself. But he was very strong, very supportive.”
“I got to a point where [my lip] was just hanging and I’d have to hold it up,” Tiffany explained. “And to talk, I’d have to hold my chin and I’d have to manipulate my lower lip to make certain sounds. I couldn’t say ‘Bob.‘”
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