Robert De Niro

ROBERT DE NIRO IS GETTING INTO THE FOOD BUSINESS

Robert De Niro wants to follow in the footsteps of another Oscar winner, Paul Newman, and branch out from movies to meatballs! With 5 hotels and nearly 50 restaurants in his empire – including numerous locations of Nobu, plus the famed Tribeca Grill, Robert has proven himself in the culinary world. Now he wants to expand his empire to grocery shelves. Robert and his partners are developing a line of products based on their successful restaurants. Imagine soy sauce from Nobu, pasta sauce from his now defunct Ago in Los Angeles, and the spaetzle from Tribeca Grill, available in your local supermarket! We wonder if De Niro’s photo will be on every package…

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

SHERYL LEE RALPH: THE TRUTH COMES OUT

Emmy winner Sheryl Lee Ralph has been reminiscing about career advice that Robert De Niro gave her when they filmed Mistress in 1992. Suddenly I remembered a fun experience I had with Sheryl. Back in the early 90’s I was writing the gossip column for Star magazine and a security guard from a fancy NY hotel called with a story. The guard was laughing and said that Robert De Niro just had a tantrum in the hotel lobby. It was after 10 o’clock and the hotel had a strict rule: nobody goes upstairs unless they have a key (that means NO visitors) UNLESS person renting room comes down to lobby to bring visitor up. De Niro wanted to go UP immediately to visit someone and called for the manager. The manager insisted – the person De Niro wanted to visit HAD to come down and get him. Loud complaints and “Don’t you know who I AM?” followed – furious De Niro made phone calls. Finally Sheryl Lee Ralph came down in the elevator in a negligee and brought de Niro up to her room. I loved the story, but when it came out, De Niro called Star’s editor and tried to get me fired, threatened to sue Star AND the hotel – he denied everything. The editor was satisfied the story was true and stood his ground. De Niro didn’t take action and a couple of years later I ran into Sheryl Lee Ralph and reminded her of the incident. She was delightful and laughed out loud – admitting it was absolutely TRUE! I loved her for that – De Niro, not so much…

Photo: Instagram

ROBERT DE NIRO: NO MORE BIG SPENDERS!

Little did we know that Robert De Niro has had a low-key girlfriend for the past few years. The 78 year old actor had a tumultuous split from his wife Grace Hightower back in 2018. Afterward, he griped that he was forced to take every job offered to pay for his ex’s penchant for expensive clothes and diamond rings. (That explains some of those B movies he’s done) Back in 2015 he met Tiffany Chen when he filmed The Intern- she taught him Tai Chi on the set. Tiffany is an award winning martial arts instructor. Their friendship has quietly developed into a romance – she has been his constant companion of late. No nonsense Tiffany is quite the opposite of his ex Grace – no diamonds or designer labels…

Photo: Instagram

MICKEY ROURKE KNOWS HOW TO HOLD A GRUDGE

Little did we know that Mickey Rourke has had a 30 year feud with Robert De Niro that might have cost him some acting jobs. In 1987 they filmed Angel Heart together – Rourke played a private eye hired by De Niro to solve the disappearance of an acquaintance. SOMETHING happened during filming, and they’ve disliked each other ever since. Mickey claimed that Martin Scorsese wanted to meet with him for a role in The Irishman, but it was called off because De Niro refused to work with him. Mickey admits “I needed the money.” Although De Niro denied blackballing him, Mickey says “I don’t look up to him no more- I look THROUGH him.” De Niro continues to deny it happened, but he might want to avoid Rourke. Mickey promised “When I see you I gonna embarrass you severely 100%!”

hoto Credit: BACKGRID-USA Mickey Rourke at The Mondrian Hotel White Party

TWO OCCASIONS WHERE ROBERT DE NIRO DIDN’T TELL THE TRUTH

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

ROBERT DE NIRO MET HIS MATCH IN SHERYL LEE RALPH

Sheryl Lee Ralph is a longtime favorite of ours and she brings to mind a funny story. Back in the 90’s when we gossiped for Star magazine we got a late night call from a security guard source who worked at an exclusive New York hotel. He was laughing as he said “Robert De Niro is here and he’s having a tantrum in the lobby because they won’t let him visit someone upstairs!” It seems this hotel was SO fancy they didn’t allow nighttime visitors to go upstairs unless the person they were visiting came to the lobby and escorted them up! De Niro was outraged and furious “Don’t you know who I am!” Security wouldn’t budge, and eventually DeNiro’s tryst-mate came down in a chic bathrobe to get him – and it turned out to be Sheryl Lee Ralph! (They costarred in the 1992 movie Mistress) When we printed this story, Deniro’s lawyer called to complain bitterly about the “fake” story and tried to get me fired, but didn’t sue. He also tried to get the security guard fired. A few years later we ran into Sheryl at an event and reminded her of that story– she laughed out loud and admitted – “Oh yes, that was me!”

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ROBERT DE NIRO LOVES HIMSELF IN “THE IRISHMAN”

The Irishman premiered last night in New York and we can hardly WAIT to see the de-ageing process that allows Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino ‘s characters age through the decades – from the late 40’s to the late 90’s. The computer imaging that made these older actors look much younger was so impressive to Robert De Niro that when he saw himself, he joked “This could extend my career for another 30 years!” Netflix is thrilled with the good reviews, but everyone is wondering how moviegoers will react to the three and a half hour length of this film!

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ROBERT DENIR0 – MORE LAID BACK THAN WE’RE USED TO SEEING

If Robert De Niro is looking a bit more scruffy and relaxed these days it just might be due to the fact that he split with his wife of 21 years Grace Hightower. Ebony magazine says that Grace kept Robert on a tight leash (which he probably needed) – she was involved in many charities and wanted him to look respectable in public at all times. That meant freshly shaved, neat haircut, and well dressed. Robert prefers to let it all hang out between movies and be himself. There were also rumors that Grace was a Trump supporter.(?) Friends agree that they are both happier since the split and Robert hardly looks like the movie tough guy he plays so well in this cozy photo with his dogs and his cute daughter Helen.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

THE IRISHMAN: SPECIAL EFFECTS WILL MAKE ROBERT DE NIRO LOOK 30 YEARS OLD

Robert De Niro is on a set in Queens beating up a shopkeeper for his new film The Irishman. It’s about a REALLY nasty gangster named Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran and flashbacks of his 25 mob murders – including Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa. Scorsese is directing all his favorites – DeNiro, Al Pacino (he plays Hoffa,) Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel etc in this gangster epic said to rival Goodfellas. The film’s huge budget stalled production until Netflix took over. Interestingly, DeNiro, 74, has to start out the movie as a 30 year old, so the same special effects team that made Brad Pitt age backwards for Benjamin Button will make DeNiro look young. It’s worth seeing just for THAT…

Photo Credit: Pacific Coast News