Robert De Niro's friends fear legend may 'crack' under pressure of parenthood and grandson's death: 'Something has to give'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: People close to the ‘Iceman’ Robert De Niro fear that the ‘The Goodfellas’ actor may ‘crack’ under the tremendous pressure that the year 2023 is putting on him. The actor faced the zenith of ecstasy at the birth of his seventh child Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro with his girlfriend Tiffany Chen. But within a few months, he was also devastated by the untimely death of his 19-year-old grandson Leandro De Niro Rodriguez.
Speaking to The US Sun, a person close to De Niro talked in detail about the personal and professional upheavals the veteran actor is facing in his life currently. The source added that De Niro doesn’t think about retirement as he likes being “famous.”
‘If the iceman is ever going to crack, that's going to happen now’
A person who has worked in close proximity with the ‘Joker’ actor for the last two years opened up to The Sun regarding the 79-year-old’s tumultuous year. Speaking of his personal upheavals, the insider told the news outlet that even the “iceman” may “break” now. They said, "Knowing De Niro is knowing a guy who isn't affected much by the ups and downs of life,” and continued, “His attitude is that emotions are for the screen, and in real life he goes out of his way to present an icy-calm, rock-steady demeanor.” However, they admitted, “He's seen a lot and been through a lot.”
The source added, “He doesn't have anything to prove to anybody at this point, and he can still snap his finger and get a movie made, which is the definition of power in Hollywood,” while continuing, “But he has had an absolutely crazy 2023.” The source elaborated, “Having a new baby, dealing with the ridiculous details that are coming out of his legal battle with his former assistant, and now facing the death of his grandson.”
“If the iceman is ever going to crack, that's going to happen now, because what he's been facing is a perfect storm and the year is barely half over,” commented the insider.
'Retirement as a concept doesn't come up with De Niro'
The insider also commented about ‘The Irishman’ actor’s tumultuous professional life this year. While his comedy ‘About My Father’ flopped at the box office, he also became a serious contender of the upcoming Oscars for his role in Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’. The insider opined, "On top of everything going on in his personal life, De Niro is expected to be in the Oscar mix this year for Killers,” before adding, “That entire project has been a high-stakes pressure cooker for Robert going on four years now - he's put a lot into this thing.”
However, the insider agreed, “But given what's happened with his grandson, nobody is really expecting him to go hat-in-hand to beg for Oscar votes this fall. He's not the campaigning type and he has so much going on at home right now that it's completely understandable if he wants to sit out the horserace this year.” They continued, “He's always been fine with letting the work speak for itself. He's totally justified for taking family time right now, as much as he wants.”
About his retirement plans, the insider continued, “He loves working and he loves running his businesses, but so much of what's happened the last several months has pulled him away from that, and out of his comfort zone.” They added, “Normally, when somebody is that bottled up, something has to give. You're going to have to start seeing cracks in the ‘iceman' persona he puts across.”
The insider explained that despite having an enormous fortune, De Niro loves being in the public eye. "The problem is, he still loves being famous, getting paid a fortune, and seeing these movies be hits around the world,” they noted. “Retirement as a concept doesn't come up with De Niro.” The insider added, “The tacit understanding among the people he works with is that he's going to keep at it until he physically can't anymore.”
‘I’ll go as long as I can’
While the Hollywood veteran is dealing with challenging situations in 2023, he had expressed his wish to continue acting for “as long as” he can in a 2020 interview with Yahoo Entertainment. After playing grandfathers in the 2016 film ‘Dirty Grandapa’ and 2020's ‘The War With Grandpa’, De Niro said in the interview, “I always say, the next thing is grandfathers, then great-grandfathers, then great-great-great grandfathers, so who knows.”
When asked about his plans for retirement, he declared, “I’ll go as long as I can.”
