One of Rob Reiner’s kids has been arrested in connection with his and his wife’s deaths. Nick Reiner was arrested on Dec. 15 after he was questioned by officials about his parents’ murders.
The critically acclaimed director and his wife were found dead in their Los Angeles home with their throats slit, according to ABC News. After their bodies were found, the Reiner family said in a statement to Variety, “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner. We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.”
Rob Reiner worked closely with his children, either with films or on social media. A year before his death, he talked about the pressures of giving his children support in the wake of being a nepo baby. “My son is 32 and my daughter’s 26,” he told The Guardian. “They both want careers, they’re both talented. Should I lean into it? Should I back away from it? They’re confused. I said, once they find their own path, it won’t matter. I was very conscious when I was carrying out my career that I didn’t rely on [my dad]. I didn’t ask him for money, and if you know in your heart that what you’re doing is true, you can block out all that stuff.”
Tracy Reiner is Rob Reiner’s adoptive daughter from his marriage to Penny Marshall. She retired from acting, but appeared in her father’s film When Harry Met Sally.
In a statement to NBC News, she reacted to her adoptive dad’s death. “I came from the greatest family ever,” she told the outlet, adding that she saw her father the day before his death. “I don’t know what to say, I’m in shock.”
Jake Reiner is Rob and Michele Reiner’s first child. He’s in the entertainment industry, and he currently hosts The Incline: Dodgers Podcast, which focuses on Los Angeles Dodgers baseball coverage.
Nick Reiner is Rob and Michele Reiner’s second child. He followed his father’s footsteps as an actor and screenwriter. He spoke to People about his struggle with addiction in 2016 when he wrote the semi-autobiographical film Being Charlie, which his father directed. “I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas,” he said. “I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun.”
“It was very, very hard going through it the first time, with these painful and difficult highs and lows,” the director told the LA Times in 2016 about making the movie. “And then making the movie dredged it all up again.”
In a movie Q&A, Rob said “there were disagreements” and “at times it was really rough” when the pair were trying to depict the father-son relationship. Nick said, “Sometimes it would get overwhelming for me.”
Nick was arrested on Dec. 15 in connection with his parents’ death and has a bail set for $4 million. According to TMZ, Nick and his parents were in a “very loud argument” at Conan O’Brien’s house during a Christmas Party. Sources told the site that “Michele had been anguishing to friends over the last few months that she and Rob were at their wits’ end over Nick’s mental illness and alleged substance abuse issues, and did not know what to do with their son Nick, saying, ‘We’ve tried everything.'”
The couple’s daughter told officials that Nick was “dangerous” and “should be a suspect.”
Romy Reiner is Rob and Michele Reiner’s youngest child and only daughter. She’s a photographer, artist, and writer. According to People, she discovered her parents’ dead bodies in their house.
In a 2016 interview, she recalled how she was supportive of her brother Nick during Being Charlie. “This is my best friend and I was there for all of it,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s weird but good to see in on the screen.”
