Robert De Niro's Son Has Autism

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Actor Robert De Niro has just confirmed a painful truth: his four-year-old son Elliot De Niro was born with autism.

"Grace and we all have a son with autism and we believe it is critical that all issues related to the causes of autism are openly discussed and examined," the acclaimed actor said in a statement.

Little Elliot is De Niro's second son, 72, with socialite Grace Hightower, 60. The couple also have little Helen Grace, four. De Niro also has a 40-year-old daughter, Drena, and Raphael (35) as a result of his relationship with his ex-wife Diahnne Abbott, and twins Julian and Aaron, 16, who he had through a surrogate with his ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith.

The announcement about the minor comes after a great controversy that was sparked by De Niro's decision to withdraw the documentary Vaxxedat from the Tribeca Film Festival, of which the actor is co-founder.

De Niro decided to release the film because it “did not provide an opportunity to conduct a conversation on the subject [of autism] which is deeply personal to me and my family, according to a statement issued on Saturday, March 26.

"In the 15 years since the founding of the Tribeca Festival, I have never asked for a tape to be shown or to have been involved in its programming," he said, "however this is very personal to me and my family and I want there is discussion [on the subject]”.

The film was made by filmmaker Andrew Wakefield, and speaks out against vaccines. This has been harshly criticized by several filmmakers, who asked that he be removed from the prestigious festival that takes place annually in New York.