Robert De Niro Opens Up About Balancing Career and Fatherhood

Balancing a major acting career with family life can be difficult, and Robert De Niro says there is no simple formula for getting it right. The two-time Oscar winner recently spoke about fatherhood, work and the guilt that can come with not always being present.

His comments come ahead of the release of the Netflix thriller “The Whisper Man.”

Balancing Work and Family

At 83, De Niro has spent decades working in film, yet he admits that managing a career while raising children still brings challenges. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, he said there is no particular “secret” to successful fatherhood.

Instagram | @robertdenirodaily | Robert De Niro opens up about fatherhood, revealing that balancing fame and family has no easy answers.

“I don’t know if there is a secret,” De Niro said. “It’s just managing it all. And there’s no way around not feeling a little guilty about not being there at times you should or you think you should.”

His comments reflect a familiar part of parenting: work responsibilities can sometimes compete with family time. De Niro also pointed out that becoming a parent does not come with a fixed set of instructions.

“It’s a new experience. It’s not like you’ve taken courses on it and stuff,” he said. “You can, of course, but you don’t. You just jump in and you have the child and you got to… That’s it.”

De Niro is the father of seven children from different stages of his life. He adopted his eldest daughter, Drena, now 54, when he married his former wife Diahnne Abbott. The couple later welcomed their son Raphael, now 49.

After his divorce from Abbott, De Niro dated actress Toukie Smith. They became parents to twins Julian and Airyn, both 30.

De Niro later married Grace Hightower in 1997. They share son Elliot, 28, and daughter Helen, 14. In 2023, De Niro and his girlfriend Tiffany Chen welcomed their daughter Gia, now 3. Gia is De Niro’s seventh child and his first with Chen.

Adam Scott Shares a Similar View

Adam Scott, 53, also discussed the realities of becoming a parent. In “The Whisper Man,” Scott plays a widowed father whose eight-year-old son is abducted. His character turns to his estranged father for help, creating a story centered on family, loss and complicated relationships between fathers and sons.

Scott said that advice from other parents can only go so far.

Instagram | @mradamscott | Adam Scott says parenting advice can help, but real understanding comes through experience when raising a child.

“No matter how much advice you get or whatever anyone says to you, or tries to, once you’re doing it, it’s a brand new thing and there’s no preparing for it,” he said. “Really, you really have to experience it to figure out how you fit into being a parent. That’s what I found anyway.”

Scott shares teenage son Graham and daughter Frankie with his wife, Naomi Scott.

About “The Whisper Man”

“The Whisper Man” stars De Niro and Scott alongside Michelle Monaghan, Hamish Linklater, Michael Keaton, Owen Teague and Acston Luca Porto.

The story follows a crime writer whose eight-year-old son is kidnapped. With few options, the widowed father seeks help from his estranged father, a retired former police detective. Their search soon connects the kidnapping to an old case involving a convicted serial killer known as “The Whisper Man.”

The film uses its crime storyline to examine strained family relationships and the difficult responsibilities that come with fatherhood.

Robert De Niro’s comments offer a candid view of parenting without presenting it as something that can be mastered through a simple formula. His experience, along with Adam Scott’s perspective, points to the same idea: becoming a parent requires learning through real-life experience while making difficult choices about time, work and family.