Who are Robert De Niro's 7 children? What to know about his family

When you think of Robert De Niro, you might think of his acting legacy, with starring roles in classics like "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "The Godfather." The renowned actor has another legacy, though, as a father of seven.

De Niro has been married twice.

He shares his adopted daughter, Drena, and his son Raphael with his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, to whom he was married to from 1976 to 1988. In 1997, De Niro tied the knot with his second wife, Grace Hightower. They welcomed two children, Elliot and Helen, and divorced in 2018.

De Niro shares his other kids — Julian, Aaron and Gia — with two women he dated.

The father of seven told TODAY's Hoda Kotb that he's learned a lot from his kids.

"Well, I have certain awareness," he said. "When you’re older, you have awareness of certain things in life, dynamics, everything, family dynamics. It's just, you can't avoid learning some things, and then how you can deal with those, manage them."

Read on to learn more about De Niro's kids.

In 1976, De Niro adopted his first wife Diahnne Abbott's daughter, Drena De Niro per IMDb.

Drena De Niro spoke to her famous family, and her own upbringing in the public eye, in an interview with Avenue in 2011.

"I came from a really creative bunch of people. My grandparents were painters, my mother is a great actress. So, to me, I didn't really see things the way the public saw stuff. It was just a group of wonderfully crazy, talented people who love each other, and who are doing the best they can," she said.

Drena De Niro has made a name for herself in Hollywood as an actor and model. She played Paulette Stone in "A Star Is Born," Anita in "When They See Us," and Cindy in "Joy."

She has a son, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez.

In 1976, De Niro and Abbott welcomed their son, Raphael Eugene De Niro. Raphael De Niro works as a broker at the New York City real estate firm Douglas Elliman, per the firm's website, where he founded the De Niro team.

Raphael De Niro married his first wife, Claudine De Niro, in 2008, per People. He remarried in 2020, wedding Hannah Carnes De Niro, per the New York Post.

Following his divorce from Abbott, De Niro was linked to former model, actor and restauranteur Toukie Smith (he gets a mention in her New Yorker profile). Their twin sons, Julian and Aaron De Niro, were born in 2023.

An actor, Julian De Niro played a young Barack Obama in "The First Lady."

In 1998, De Niro welcomed his son Elliot De Niro with his second wife, Grace Hightower.

At the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, De Niro revealed his son has autism, per People.

"Grace and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined," De Niro said, explaining his decision to pull the film "Vaxxed," which explored the connection between autism and vaccines, from the festival.

De Niro told ESPN in 2019 that he decided to put Elliot in tennis lessons so he could find something to enjoy. Although De Niro said his son "wasn't crazy about it, at times," he said that Elliot really came into the sport and started to love it over time.

"His mother was good at pushing (him), and wanting him to be physical and work out," De Niro shared.

"He has realized, ‘Oh, I can accomplish this. I can do this,'" Hightower added. "It has helped him socially."

In 2011, De Niro and Hightower welcomed their daughter Helen.

The couple split in 2018. "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," De Niro said in a statement at the time, according to People. "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."

Gia is De Niro's youngest child, welcomed in April 2023 with girlfriend Tiffany Chen. But like most of his other kids, Gia has been kept out of the public eye.

In fact, De Niro's fans didn't even know that he had a seventh child until the actor told ET Canada that he was in fact, a dad of seven.

"Seven, actually. I just had a baby," he said.

During a June appearance on TODAY, De Niro talked about his life at home with Gia and said he's been "very happy" with how things have been going so far, and added that Gia has been sleeping "great."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com