Actor Robert De Niro did not hold back his thoughts about parenthood, explaining that while he loves his children, they can test him at times.
De Niro told Us Weekly on Wednesday at the Tribeca Film Festival that he loved his kids, but that love does not make the challenges of parenting go away.
“It’s not easy. Sometimes it’s fun and you love your kids, and sometimes you want to kill them!” he said.
The actor summed up parenthood in a single sentence.
“Then, when you have the good moments, you forget about the ones that weren’t good.”
In an interview with The Daily Mail back in 2011, the actor talked about fatherhood and said that keeping the lines of communication open was one of the most important aspects of parenting, adding that over the years he has made a conscious effort to talk and to listen to his children.
He said that at times communicating with kids could be difficult — especially when they are teenagers because they are often in their own world, and sometimes it seems as if they aren’t even listening.
“But that’s the time when it’s most important to find a way to talk to them — not to lecture them, but to tell them things I think are important for them to know,” he added.
De Niro, 75, might know a thing or two about children given he has six of them — and four grandchildren. He has two children with former wife Grace Hightower, four other children with former wife Diahnne Abbott and 16-year-old twins with former girlfriend Toukie Smith.
De Niro shares about parenthood and having a child with #autism . https://t.co/mtb8daRP10 pic.twitter.com/rlaqrOvFG2
— ABR (@AddisonBR_VC) March 28, 2016
In 2016, the Grammy winner announced that his son, Elliot, had autism. That same year, after questioning the dangers of vaccines, he became embroiled in the anti-vaccination controversy, catching heat from both sides of the issue.
De Niro addressed the matter at length in an interview with The Daily Mail , saying that he simply wanted to know the truth about vaccines. He had stated that his then-wife had noticed what seemed like an overnight change in their son after he received a vaccination. He insisted that he was not anti-vaccine but rather “pro-safe vaccine.”
In a statement, he said that he and Hightower believed it was “critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined.” People reported.
De Niro opened the 18th annual Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday night in New York City’s Apollo Theater.
