It's Robert De Niro's birthday today) born on 17th August 1943) so as he turns 71 we take a look at his relationships over the years.
De Niro generally plays the faithful husband, as in Meet the Parents and Last Vegas and his most recent relationship proves that he is not too dissimilar to his character in his recent films.
De Niro and his first wife, Diahnne Abbott have a son together, Raphael who resides in New York. De Niro adopted Abbott’s daughter, Drena, from a previous marriage and has two sons of his own.
His sons were both conceived in vitro fertilization by a surrogate mother in 1995. Their mother is Toukie Smith, a fashion model and sister of the late fashion designer Willi Smith, with whom De Niro had a long term relationship with.
In 1997, De Niro married Grace Hightower and wed his second wife at their home in Marbletown. They have a son together, Elliot, born in 1988, however they broke things off in 1999 and battled for custody over their son. The divorce never went ahead and they renewed their vows in October 2003 at their Ulster County Farm in New York’s Catskill Mountains. A real example of how couples can make another go of things and find the strength to turn their problems around. We applaud the couple for their fine example of second chances. With the pressures that Hollywood place on relationships to survive, this is a rare sight indeed.
Their second child, a daughter, was born in December 2011, again via a surrogate.