Earlier than Nick Reiner was arrested in connection to his mother and father Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner’s deaths, their son had been candid about how habit contributed to their difficult relationship through the years.
Rob and Michele, who wed in 1989, shared three youngsters: Jake, Nick and Romy. (Rob additionally adopted ex-wife Penny Marshall‘s daughter, Tracy.)
Nick began to battle with drug use as an adolescent, resulting in his first rehab stint at age 15. After a number of relapses and remedy stints, Nick started to reside on the road.
“I used to be homeless in Maine. I used to be homeless in New Jersey. I used to be homeless in Texas,” Nick informed Folks in 2016. “I spent nights on the road. I spent weeks on the road. It was not enjoyable. “If I wished to do it my approach and never go to the packages they had been suggesting, then I needed to be homeless.”
After getting clear, Nick used his expertise as inspiration for the 2015 movie: Being Charlie. The film, which Nick cowrote, was directed by Rob and adopted the ups and downs of a household coping with a son’s habit. Cary Elwes performed the daddy and Nick Robinson portrayed the son within the autobiographical mission.
Rob and Nick’s personal dynamic was known as into query after they had been selling the movie in 2016. Whereas Rob referred to the expertise of creating Being Charlie as “therapeutic,” Nick selected not to reply to a query in regards to the standing of their relationship at the moment.
“There have been disagreements,” Rob informed the gang at an occasion for the transfer. ”At occasions it was actually tough [working on the film.” Nick, for his part, admitted, “Sometimes it would get overwhelming for me. I really wasn’t sure I wanted to do this.”
Rob noted that his relationship with Nick had changed for the better, adding, “To be honest, by the time we got to the point of making the movie … our relationship had gotten so much closer.”
Rob Reiner and Nick Reiner Laura Cavanaugh/FilmMagic
In December 2025, news broke that Rob and Michele were found dead “from apparent stab wounds.” Us Weekly subsequently confirmed that Nick was arrested on a murder charge.
“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,” a spokesperson for the family said in a statement to Variety at the time. “We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.”
Keep scrolling for everything Nick and Rob shared about their complicated relationship over the years:
Nick Reiner Says He Could Have ‘Died’ When He Was Homeless
While promoting Being Charlie in 2015, Nick revealed how living on the streets shaped him, telling People, “When I was out there, I could’ve died. It’s all luck. There were a lot of dark years there.”
Nick recalled 17 visits to rehab before he was able to get clean.
“That made me who I am now, having to deal with that stuff,” he told the outlet. “I met crazy great people there, so out of my element. Now, I’ve been home for a really long time, and I’ve sort of gotten acclimated back to being in L.A. and being around my family.”
Rob Reiner’s Perspective Once Changed on Nick’s Struggles
“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. “And then making the movie dredged it all up again.”
Rob explained that rehab “works for some people but it can’t work for everybody.”
Rob Reiner Tried to Make Amends to Nick
Rob and Michele expressed regret about not listening to their son amid his addiction struggles.
“When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen,” Rob told LA Times about offering his son an apology after their ups and downs. “We were desperate and because the people had diplomas on their wall, we listened to them when we should have been listening to our son.”
Michele, who was also at the event in honor of Being Charlie, added during the joint interview, “We were so influenced by these people. They would tell us he’s a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them.”
The Hollywood Reporter noted at the time that Nick didn’t say much as his film was being honored. He later broke down how he chose to get clean because he was “sick of it.”
“I come from a nice family. I’m not supposed to be out there on the streets and in homeless shelters doing all these f*****-up things,” he explained about the autobiographical project.
Over the years, stars including Jennette McCurdy and Macaulay Culkin have discussed hitting rock bottom with their parents. Jennette broke down the abuse she faced because of her mother, Debra McCurdy, in her memoir, I Am Glad My Mom Died. “Of course, there are moments where I fantasize that my mom would’ve apologized or that […]
Nick Reiner Struggled to Bond With Dad Rob as a Child
Nick stated throughout a Construct Collection interview in 2016 that he didn’t actually bond together with his dad till he was an grownup.
“We didn’t bond quite a bit as a child, like he actually preferred baseball, I like basketball, and he may watch that with my brother, however baseball,” he recalled ie. “I believe the bonding [on the set of Being Charlie] got here not from the story itself, however from the truth that we had been engaged on a film collectively, and I may see him and his … I might suppose within the type that he may categorical himself the most effective, which is making films, as a result of he has a lot expertise, and so seeing that type of turned me round to be like, ‘OK, I ought to in all probability shut up and take heed to him, as a result of he is aware of much more about this.’”
Nick continued: “‘He is aware of, I don’t know something, so I’ll be taught no matter he has to show me.’ … Once I noticed him try this, and it was one thing that I’m enthusiastic about, I used to be like, ‘Wow, like, he actually is aware of quite a bit, and it made me really feel nearer to him and be like, ‘Yeah.’”
How Rob and Nick Reiner Tried to Get to a Higher Place as Father and Son
Rob, in the meantime, recalled deferring to Nick whereas engaged on Being Charlie — and the way the expertise made him a greater father.
“The entire course of for me, I can simply communicate for myself, it did make me perceive him much more, and I believe it made me a greater father,” he talked about on the Construct Collection occasion. “Hopefully it did. I don’t know.”
