Robert De Niro

Sorry to say this, because I’ve been a fan of Robert De Niro’s acting since Mean Streets, but as a person, he turned out to be a big disappointment. In 2017, he railed against the The New York Post for writing that he was heard complaining to his then-wife Grace about her extravagant spending. He told her “I wouldn’t have to keep making these sh—-y movies if you didn’t spend all my money!” His publicist Stan Rosenfeld swore that it never happened. Last week De Niro’s divorce attorney made exactly the same claim in court – that De Niro was overworked trying to pay for Grace’s thirst for Stella McCartney. I had a similar experience with the not-so-honest not-so-nice actor. Back in the 90’s my source -an employee at a posh NY hotel – was laughing when he called to report that De Niro had made a “Don’t you know who I AM?” scene late that night in the lobby, trying to access the room of a woman staying there. He was told by the hotel manager the room occupant would have to come to the lobby and get him. Hotel rules. An attractive back female celebrity came to the lobby in her robe to retrieve the sputtering and furious actor. When the gossip item came out in Star Magazine, De Niro had his people call my editor and try to get me fired – he claimed the story was NOT true- and he called the hotel to gripe about the “leak,” hoping to get someone fired. My source and I were both scared. A few weeks later I was at an event and the woman De Niro visited at that hotel came up and told me the story was absolutely true and SHE thought it was funny.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA