Airyn De Niro is sharing a glimpse into her world.
Robert De Niro and Toukie Smith’s 29-year-old daughter reflected on her experience being a “late bloomer” when it came to coming out as a transgender woman.
“I think a big part of [my transition] is the influence Black women have had on me,” Airyn told Them Magazine in an interview published April 29. “I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way.”
Although Airyn, who began hormone therapy in November 2024, felt closer to her identity, she admitted that she worried about her close relationships. She added, “I think part of me is concerned that [my family] will maybe still think of me as the person I was before the transition.”
For the actress, it was representation in media like Laverne Cox, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Jools Lebron that inspired her to begin her own journey.
“Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success,” she explained, “I’m like, you know what? Maybe it’s not too late for me.”
As Airyn, who is a twin with her brother Julian De Niro, simply put it, “Maybe I can start.”
With little representation for women, especially trans women, who look like her, she was ready to be part of the change she wanted to see.
“I’d want to hopefully be an inspiration for at least one other person like me who is Black, who is queer, who’s not a size extra small,” she reflected. “I’d want to see more trans women, more Black women who are maybe bigger-bodied or don’t fit the mold of super thin.”
It isn’t just trans women whom she felt inspired by, however. Indeed, her ultimate role model is her mom, who was in a relationship with the Goodfellas star from 1988 to 1996.
“Whenever I’m at a family gathering on my dad’s side, people would always talk about how much they love my mom and how memorable she was and how happy my dad was when he was with her,” she shared. “I want to be like that… I want to be remembered the way that people remember her.”
Despite being the daughter of a movie star and model, Airyn began paving her own way in the industry.
“I wasn’t brought up having a side part in one of dad’s movies or going to business meetings or attending premieres,” she explained. “My dad was very big on us finding our own sort of path. I would want [success] to happen on my own merit.”
In fact, Touki and the Oscar winner—who also shares kids Drena, 57, and Raphael, 48, with ex Diahnne Abbott, as well as son Elliot, 27, and daughter Helen, 12, with ex Grace Hightower and Gia, 2, with girlfriend Tiffany Chen—opted to keep their kids out of the spotlight until they were older.
“Obviously, no parent is perfect, but I am grateful that both my parents agreed to keep me out of the limelight,” Airyn reflected. “They wanted it very private. They have told me they wanted me to have as much of a normal childhood as possible.”
For a closer look at the Heat star’s sprawling family tree, keep reading.
First Wife Diahnne Abbott
Robert De Niro met his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, while making Martin Scorsese‘s Taxi Driver, in which she had a bit part as the ticket taker at a porn theater Travis Bickle patronizes in the gritty 1976 classic.
They tied the knot April 28, 1976.
The couple also appeared together in Scorsese’s 1977 tortured-romance drama New York, New York and his 1982 satire The King of Comedy.
Daughter Drena De Niro
The actor adopted Diahnne’s daughter Drena, born Sept. 3, 1967, when they got married.
Drena’s first Instagram post is a black-and-white snap of her as a child out to dinner with her parents and then-couple Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston, captioned “At this point all I wonder is WTF was I doing there ???”
She caught the creative bug early, though, and remained in show business as an actor and producer.
Growing up, “it definitely wasn’t the typical family lifestyle,” she told Everything Zoomer, “but there was a lot of warmth, fun, craziness.” She described her father as “a non-judgmental, open-minded person, always accepting of what people feel their paths are.”
Son Raphael De Niro
De Niro and Abbott’s son Raphael De Niro was born Nov. 9, 1976.
Raphael later recalled the family moving from Los Angeles (where his father was born) to New York (the city De Niro is most associated with) when he was about 10, telling The Real Deal it was a major “culture shock.”
De Niro and Abbott divorced in 1988.
Raphael went into real estate, which also runs in the family. Per his website, he leads The De Niro Team at Douglas Elliman in Manhattan, and he’s a partner in TriBeCa’s Greenwich Hotel.
He shares three kids with ex-wife Claudine de Matos and has been married to stylist Hannah Carnes since March 2020.
Acknowledging his last name alone turned him into fodder for tabloid coverage, Raphael told The Real Deal, “I just try to keep my head down and keep my private life private.”
Grandson Leandro De Niro Rodriguez
Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, Drena’s son with artist ex Carlos Rodriguez, died of a suspected overdose on July 2, 2023. He was 19.
On Aug. 11, 2023, which would have been her son’s 20th birthday, Drena wrote on Instagram, “Thank you for the happiest and most profound 2 decades of my life, little angel. I hope you are at peace and your spirit is filled with joy today and always.”
De Niro called his grandson’s death a shock, telling People, “And I just then started thinking about all the things I could have, should have done maybe with him. I don’t know if that would’ve made a difference. And so that’s always playing through my mind. It shouldn’t have happened.”
Ex-Girlfriend Toukie Smith
De Niro and model-actress Toukie Smith started dating in 1988, but ended their romantic relationship several years before their twins Julian and Airyn were born via surrogate on Oct. 20, 1995.
The exes would be leading “separate personal and professional lives,” De Niro’s rep said in a statement at the time, but “look forward to sharing the parenting of the children.”
A rep for Smith said, per the New York Times, that the pair “obviously still have a very strong bond.”
Daughter Airyn De Niro
Airyn came out as a transgender woman in April 2025. She told Them Magazine that her journey also brought her closer to her racial identity.
“I think a big part of [my transition] is the influence Black women have had on me,” she said. “I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way.”
As for who the actress aspires to be like? Her mother, of course.
“Whenever I’m at a family gathering on my dad’s side, people would always talk about how much they love my mom and how memorable she was and how happy my dad was when he was with her,” she shared. “I want to be like that… I want to be remembered the way that people remember her.”
De Niro signaled that his feelings for his child hadn’t changed in any way, saying in a statement, “I loved and supported Aaron as my son and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter. I don’t know what the big deal is. I love all my children.”
Son Julian De Niro
Julian is a stage and screen actor who appeared on Broadway in the Tony-nominated The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. In 2022 he played a young Barack Obama in the Showtime limited series The First Lady and appeared on the Netflix series Zero Day, starring his dad as a former POTUS investigating a deadly cyberattack.
“For my kids, I tell them, ‘If you want to be an actor or you want to do this or that, that’s fine as long as you’re happy. Just don’t sell yourself short,'” De Niro told People in January 2020. “That’s the most I would say—push yourself a little more and reach for what you really think it is you want to do. Don’t be afraid.”
Second Wife Grace Hightower
De Niro married Grace Hightower on June 17, 1997.
The welcomed son Elliot De Niro on March 18, 1998. De Niro filed for divorce from the Precious actress in August 1999, but they reconciled and renewed their vows in 2004.
“They can make sure this one sticks,” the actor joked of the two judges who officiated, per People.
In 2009, De Niro, then 66, told the Los Angeles Times, “My whole thing now is just to have the strength to keep my kids in line and get them to the point where they’re independent and self-reliant. I want to make sure my kids know I’m there, and you’ve got to have the stamina to do that.”
Daughter Helen Grace De Niro was born via surrogate on Dec. 23, 2011.
De Niro and Hightower split up for good in 2018, the Oscar winner saying in a statement, “Grace and I have two beautiful children together. We are entering a period of transition in our relationship which is a difficult but constructive process. I honor Grace as a wonderful mother and ask for privacy and respect from all as we proceed to develop our roles as partners in parenting.”
Elliot De Niro
When promoting Silver Linings Playbook, in which he played a father whose grown son (played by Bradley Cooper) has bipolar disorder, De Niro opened up about having a child with special needs.
“I don’t like to get emotional,” he told Katie Couric in 2013, “but I know exactly what [my character] goes through.”
He shared in 2016 that Elliot has autism.
Helen De Niro
“She’s so adorable,” De Niro said of his then 1-year-old daughter in 2013. He told CBS News, “You just look at her, and it’s all there…Nothing else matters.”
Helen made a rare red carpet appearance with her dad and his girlfriend Tiffany Chen at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Girlfriend Tiffany Chen
De Niro was first photographed with Chen in August 2021, but his relationship with the tai chi expert wasn’t the subject of much notice until after their daughter Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro was born on April 6, 2023.
“This baby was planned,” Gayle King relayed in announcing Gia’s arrival a month later on CBS Mornings, and “brought here by love.”
Daughter Gia Chen-De Niro
While De Niro admittedly doesn’t do the “heavy lifting,” he waxed rhapsodic about having a baby in the house.
“Everything that I’m consumed with or worried about just goes away when I look at her,” he told AARP in January 2024. “It’s wondrous.”
And at 2 years old, Gia continued to be “pure joy,” De Niro told Entertainment Tonight in June 2025. “It’s always wonderful.”
