Robert De Nirosees himself inhis youngest child, Gia.
Looking at a picture of himself as a young boy, theKillers of the Flower Moonstar tells PEOPLE he sees “a lot of similarity” between himself and his 10-month-old daughter, Gia,whom he welcomed last yearwith his girlfriend, 45-year-old martial arts instructorTiffany Chen.
“It reminds me of my two youngest little girls,” says the two-time Oscar winner. “I see it also in one of my grandkids.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Robert De Niro and daughter Gia; Robert De Niro and his father, Robert De Niro Sr.Courtesy Robert De Niro;Courtesy of HBO and Canal Productions
Courtesy Robert De Niro;Courtesy of HBO and Canal Productions
De Niro’s other children, Drena, 56, and Raphael, 47 (with his first wife Diahnne Abbott), twins Julian and Aaron, 28 (with ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith) and Elliot, 25, and Helen (with ex-wife Grace Hightower), are proud older siblings.
“The kids all get a big kick out of her,” he says of Gia. “The grandkids even. She’s their aunt— [and] they’re about to be teenagers!” (Raphael has three young children;Drena’s only child, Leandro, died last July at age 19.)
Ever the family man, the actor loves when all the De Niros can gather. “The fact that they’d all be together,” he says, “is everything to me.” His favorite thing to do with them? “Just being together, taking trips to warm places,” he adds.
Robert De Niro.Michael Schwartz
Michael Schwartz
The on-screen wiseguy says he tries to impart some of his hard-won wisdom to his kids.
“One thing I’d say to one of my younger kids is that there are things that I remember that [my parents, De Niro Sr. and Virginia Admiral] told me that you don’t forget,” says theGoodfellasicon, who was raised in New York City. “Certain little truisms or whatever you want to call them.”
Robert De Niro on the cover of PEOPLE.Michael Schwartz
“Little examples of life saying, ‘If you do this, this is what you do. Always do this, do that,’ ” he continues.
“I say, ‘You’re going to remember what I just said to you, you’re not going to forget it and it’ll register with you and it will make an impact and a good one,” he adds. “So that I’ve found myself doing [that].”
For more on De Niro, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE.
source: people.com
