Drew Barrymore swoons over Robert De Niro's 'very attractive' dad: "I feel weird saying..."
It appears that Drew Barrymore is mesmerized by the good looks of Robert De Niro's father! During Tuesday's episode of 'The Drew Barrymore Show,' the talk show host was joined by the 'Taxi Driver' star, and while chit-chatting with De Niro, Barrymore couldn't stop gushing over his father, Robert De Niro Sr. As per Entertainment Weekly, when a black-and-white photograph of De Niro's father appeared on the screen, Barrymore exclaimed, “I didn’t know that your father was an artist — and a beautiful gentleman, by the way, if I may say that. Look at him. Now, I mean, I can see why you had so much swagger! Your dad’s… very attractive.”
After hearing Barrymore's jaw-dropping confession, De Niro didn't react much and maintained a straight face. On the other hand, Barrymore told her 'Everybody's Fine' co-star, “I feel weird saying that to you, but he’s got charisma!” While playing with her hair, Barrymore tried to shed light on the cool aura and personality of De Niro's father. In the episode, the '50 First Dates' actress quipped, “Or ‘rizz,’ as the kids say.”
Shortly afterward, De Niro, who is himself a doting father of seven, recalled a story when one of his daughters tested his lingo by making him “read a whole list of expressions so she could show her friends and have fun laughing at me about it.” Then, De Niro revealed that he would read the words for his daughter but on one condition. "Just don’t send it around. Show it to them, but don’t send it everywhere," De Niro shared on the episode.
Following that, De Niro mentioned that he still doesn't know the meaning of the words, though. While waving a hand in the air, De Niro went on to say, “I didn’t want to. I said, ‘Okay, these are the words you guys say these days. Fine. Good.’” Soon after, Barrymore noted that she has faced a similar problem with her two daughters. “I said ‘fire’ the other day, and they were like, ‘That’s dead.' And I was like, ‘on fleek?’ They were like, ‘Oh god,’” Barrymore said as De Niro broke into laughter.
Elsewhere in the episode, Barrymore talked about the art created by De Niro's father by saying, “May I show a piece of his work? Because I’m in love with it." Then, a collection of portraits and still-lives painted by De Niro's dad was showcased on the screen. While taking a look at the paintings, Barrymore said, "It’s beautiful.” In his response, De Niro shared, "Thank you." De Niro Sr.’s work has been exhibited at renowned institutions such as New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
During an interview with Out, De Niro talked about his strained relationship with his gay father and said, "We were not the type of father and son who played baseball together, as you can surmise. But we had a connection. I wasn’t with him a lot because my mother and he were separated and divorced. As I say in the documentary, I looked after him in certain ways." When asked about the ways he took care of his father, De Niro replied, "I think of my own kids. I try to communicate with them, but it's hard. I joke about it with them. They have their issues as teenagers. I give them their space, but when I have to step in and be firm about something, I am. But my father wasn't a bad father, or absent. He was absent in some ways. He was very loving. He adored me... as I do my kids."