Robert De Niro Reacts to Daughter Airyn De Niro Coming Out as Trans

Robert De Niro declared his “love and support” for his daughter Airyn De Niro after she came out publicly as a trans woman.

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Watch : Robert De Niro’s Daughter Airyn De Niro Details Coming Out as a Trans Woman

Robert De Niro’s fatherly love is unconditional.

After his daughter Airyn De Niro came out publicly as a transgender woman, the Oscar-winning actor declared his full support for his child.

“I loved and supported Aaron as my son,” he said in a statement to Deadline April 30, “and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter.”

Robert, who shares Airyn and her twin brother Julian De Niro with ex Toukie Smith, continued, “I don’t know what the big deal is… I love all my children.”

When Airyn, 29, shared her trans identity, she admitted to wondering how her family would receive the news. In an interview with Them published April 29, she said, “I think part of me is concerned that [my family] will maybe still think of me as the person I was before the transition.”

Nonetheless, Airyn, who began hormone therapy in November, credited her parents for ensuring she was able to grow up as a regular kid.

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Robert De Niro's Daughter Airyn De Niro Reacts to Support Amid Coming Out Journey

“Obviously no parent is perfect, but I am grateful that both my parents agreed to keep me out of the limelight,” she continued. “They wanted it very private. They have told me they wanted me to have as much of a normal childhood as possible.”

While describing herself as a “late bloomer,” Airyn credited trans women including actresses Laverne Cox and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez for inspiring her to live authentically.

Instagram/Airyn De Niro; Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

“Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success,” she explained, “I'm like, you know what? Maybe it's not too late for me.”

And after reading about her impact on Airyn’s journey, Laverne, 52, shared some heartfelt words of her own.

“I just read that I'm one of the women who’ve inspired you over the years and I'm deeply, deeply honored that I can be an inspiration for you,” she said in an Instagram video April 30. “Reading that from you, Airyn, was a reminder that I have enough, I am enough and I do enough.”

The Orange Is the New Black alum added, “I want to congratulate you on embracing the beauty that you are, and I’m not talking about the outside—I’m talking about the beauty that is being trans.”

For a closer look at Robert De Niro’s family tree, keep reading.

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First Wife Diahnne Abbott

Robert De Niro met his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, while making Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, in which she had a bit part as the ticket taker at a porn theater Travis Bickle patronizes in the gritty 1976 classic.

They tied the knot April 28, 1976.

The couple also appeared together in Scorsese's 1977 tortured-romance drama New York, New York and his 1982 satire The King of Comedy.

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Daughter Drena De Niro

The actor adopted Diahnne's daughter Drena, born Sept. 3, 1971, when they got married.

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Son Raphael De Niro

De Niro and Abbott's son Raphael was born Nov. 9, 1976. Raphael later recalled the family moving from Los Angeles (where his father was born) to New York (the city his dad is most associated with) when he was about 10, telling The Real Deal it was a major "culture shock."

Raphael's parents divorced in 1988.

PATRICK MCMULLAN/PatrickMcMullan.com via Getty Images

Drena and Raphael

Drena, whose first Instagram post is a black-and-white snap of her as a child out to dinner with her parents and then-couple Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston ("at this point all I wonder is WTF was I doing there ???" she wrote), has remained in show business as an actor and producer. 

Growing up, "it definitely wasn't the typical family lifestyle," she told Everything Zoomer, "but there was a lot of warmth, fun, craziness." She described her father as "a non-judgmental, open-minded person, always accepting of what people feel their paths are."

Raphael went into real estate, which also runs in the family. Per his website, he leads The De Niro Team at Douglas Elliman in Manhattan, and he's a partner in TriBeCa's Greenwich Hotel. 

The 46-year-old shares three kids with ex-wife Claudine de Matos and has been married to stylist Hannah Carnes since March 2020.

Acknowledging his last name alone turned him into fodder for tabloid coverage, Raphael told The Real Deal, "I just try to keep my head down and keep my private life private."

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Grandson Leandro

Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, Drena's son with artist ex Carlos Rodriguez, died of a suspected overdose on July 2, 2023. He was 19.

A 20-year-old woman was arrested two weeks later on federal drug distribution charges in connection with Leandro's death, which his mother had quickly attributed to fentanyl-laced pills.

On Aug. 11, 2023, which would have been her son's 20th birthday, Drena wrote on Instagram, "Thank you for the happiest and most profound 2 decades of my life, little angel. I hope you are at peace and your spirit is filled with joy today and always."

De Niro called his grandson's death a "shock," telling People, "And I just then started thinking about all the things I could have, should have done maybe with him. I don't know if that would've made a difference. And so that's always playing through my mind. It shouldn't have happened."

Airyn De Niro/Instagram

Daughter Airyn De Niro With Toukie Smith

De Niro and model-actress Toukie Smith are parents to twins Julian and Airyn, born Oct. 20, 1995. 

Airyn came out as a transgender woman in April 2025. She told Them Magazine that her journey also brought her closer to her racial identity.

"I think a big part of [my transition] is the influence Black women have had on me," she said. "I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way." 

As for who the actress aspires to be like? Her mother, of course.

"Whenever I'm at a family gathering on my dad's side, people would always talk about how much they love my mom and how memorable she was and how happy my dad was when he was with her," she shared. "I want to be like that… I want to be remembered the way that people remember her."

 

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Son Julian De Niro With Toukie Smith

While Airyn leads a private life, Julian is an actor who most recently appeared on Broadway in the Tony-nominated The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. In 2022 he played a young Barack Obama in the Showtime limited series The First Lady.

"For my kids, I tell them, 'If you want to be an actor or you want to do this or that, that's fine as long as you're happy. Just don't sell yourself short,'" De Niro told People in January 2020. "That's the most I would say—push yourself a little more and reach for what you really think it is you want to do. Don't be afraid."

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Son Elliot and Daughter Helen With Second Wife Grace Hightower

De Niro is dad to son Elliot, born March 18, 1998, and daughter Helen Grace, born via surrogate on Dec. 23, 2011, with second wife Grace Hightower.

He married the Precious actress on June 17, 1997. De Niro filed for divorce barely two years later, but they reconciled before the split was official and renewed their vows in 2004.

They again began divorce proceedings in 2018.

When promoting Silver Linings Playbook, in which he played a father of an adult son with bipolar disorder, De Niro opened up about having a child with special needs, telling Katie Couric in 2013, "I don't like to get emotional, but I know exactly what [my character] goes through." In 2016 he shared that Elliott has autism.

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Daughter Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro With Tiffany Chen

De Niro's seventh child was born April 6, 2023.

CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King got to do the name-reveal honors on her show May 11. "How cute is this baby?" she said of then-1-month-old Gia. "Robert De Niro and his partner, that's Tiffany Chen, are over the moon about this little girl."

While the two-time Oscar winner admittedly doesn't do the "heavy lifting," he waxed rhapsodic about having a baby in the house. 

"Everything that I'm consumed with or worried about just goes away when I look at her," he told AARP. "It's wondrous."

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