Off The Record
Robert De Niro Breaks Silence After His Child Comes Out As Transgender
After Airyn, one of his seven children, came out as transgender at the age of 29, Robert De Niro expressed his feelings.
De Niro, 81, welcomed his newest child with Chen in April 2023. He has children with Diahnne Abbott, Toukie Smith, Grace Hightower, and Tiffany Chen.
When Airyn and her twin, Julian, were born in 1995, De Niro was sleeping with Smith, whom he broke up with the following year.
In an interview with Them, Airyn, who has since come out as transgender, has disclosed that she struggled to meet “beauty standards” and was constantly told she was “too much of something or not enough of something” as a child.
Then, in November, Airyn started hormone therapy after witnessing other trans women talking openly about their transitions.
She explained: “Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success… I’m like, you know what? Maybe it’s not too late for me. Maybe I can start.”
Following Airyn’s declaration, De Niro talked to People about his response to her worries that her family would “maybe still think of [her] as the person [she] was before the transition.”
The actor made clear that his feelings about Airyn have not changed at all as he said he had always ‘loved and supported’ his child, adding: “I love and support Airyn as my daughter. I don’t know what the big deal is. I love all my children.”
Airyn commended her parents in her interview for keeping her “out of the limelight,” stating that they wanted her early years to be “very private.”
“They have told me they wanted me to have as much of a normal childhood as possible,” she said.
Nevertheless, Airyn did draw attention because she is the daughter of one of Hollywood’s most well-known actors.
She said: “There’s a difference between being visible and being seen, I’ve been visible. I don’t think I’ve been seen yet.”
Moving forward, Airyn is now studying to become a mental health counselor and is keen to make success happen ‘on [her] own merit’, with her dad being keen on his kids ‘finding [their] own sort of path’.
Airyn also hopes to be an inspiration for other people who might be struggling with their identity, saying: “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.”
“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 or heroin chic.”
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