Robert De Niro Marks His 77th Birthday

Aug 17, 2020

It's Robert De Niro's birthday today! It's not every day that a Hollywood legend turns 77 — so to celebrate his 'double-sevens', here are seven facts about the actor.

1. His parents divorced because his father came out as gay.

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Actor Robert De Niro turns 77 today. Although he's best known for his gangster roles, De Niro's career has run the gamut from drama to comedy and everything in between. But outside of his acting career, how much do fans really know about him?

According to Biography, Robert De Niro was born in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia Admiral and Robert De Niro Sr, a highly-acclaimed fine arts artist. His parents met in a painting class but divorced when De Niro was two years old after his father revealed that he was gay. After, he was raised in his mother’s household, though his father lived just a short walk away and they saw each other often.

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2. He holds not one, not two, but three passports.

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According to Sovereign Man, besides a U.S. passport, De Niro also holds Antigua and Barbuda, and Italian passports. Italy is one of a multitude of countries that grants citizenship to people who can prove their ancestry. As someone with Italian ancestry, he was able to obtain an Italian passport back in 2006.

De Niro holds a diplomatic passport from Antigua and Barbuda with the title of ‘Special Envoy’. And because of his diplomatic credentials, he is entitled to plenty of special privileges and amenities that even movie stars don’t normally receive.

3. He is notoriously private.

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According to Factinate, De Niro rarely does interviews and is known as one of the most ultra-private celebrities. In one late 90s issue of Esquire magazine (where he made the cover), most of the article focused on how guarded he is with his personal life, what few details are known about him, and what rumors are speculated, while only a minority of the article dealt with the actual interview itself.

The writer noted that he was given a substantial list of off-limit subjects to ask De Niro about, such as politics, religion, his family, his reported interest in fine wines.

4. He is a cancer survivor.

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In October 2003, De Niro was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He underwent successful surgery at the New York Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in December of that year. He has reportedly been cancer-free ever since.

5. He is a father of six.

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They are Drena De Niro, Raphael De Niro, Aaron De Niro, Julian De Niro, Elliot De Niro, and Helen Grace De Niro.

Helen Grace was born via surrogate in December 2011, according to Closer. In addition, De Niro has four grandchildren, one from his daughter Drena and three from his son Raphael. He also has twin sons conceived by in vitro fertilization and delivered by a surrogate mother in 1995, from a long relationship with former model Toukie Smith.

6. He is Catholic.

De Niro’s mother was an atheist and his father was a lapsed Catholic. According to The Irish Post, his parents did not raise him with religion, and hoped to keep it that way—but his grandparents weren’t having any of that.

While young Robert was staying with them during his parents’ divorce, his grandparents had him secretly baptized, against his parents’ wishes.

7. He dropped out of school to pursue acting.

De Niro spent his youth jumping from one prestigious school to another. According to SuccessStory, he attended several well-known public and private Manhattan institutions from elementary to high school, including Elizabeth Irwin High School, the High School of Music and Art, McBurney School, and Rhodes Preparatory School.

Despite these fancy institutions, education wasn’t really De Niro’s thing — he dropped out of school completely at age 16 to focus on becoming an actor.

Tell us which of the facts above surprised you the most and be sure to join us in wishing this beloved actor 'happy birthday' in the comments!