Robert De Niro and Tiffany Chen‘s daughter, Gia, is just 3 months old, but she’s already made her first television appearance.
Chen, 45, introduced the little one to Gayle King during the Friday, July 14, episode of CBS Mornings. “She’s made it more fun,” Chen told King, 68, explaining how Gia’s arrival had changed her and De Niro’s lives.
When King jokingly asked Gia which of her dad’s movies she likes the best, Chen quipped off-camera, “The one in the delivery room, where [she’s] the star!”
De Niro, 79, confirmed in May that he and Chen — who started dating in 2021 — recently welcomed a child together. The Oscar winner later revealed that Gia was born on April 6. In an interview with King at the time, De Niro confirmed that his new daughter’s birth wasn’t an accident.
“I [asked him], ‘Did you want a baby?’ He goes, ‘Yes. This baby is planned,’” King explained during an episode of CBS Mornings. “They both wanted this baby, they’re over the moon. She was brought here by love, so he is very psyched and very excited about it.”
During her own interview with King this week, Chen revealed that she suffered an unexpected complication after giving birth to Gia. The trouble began when she started feeling numbness and tingling in her tongue after coming home from the hospital.
“Then I realized, like my face just felt weird. I didn’t know what the feeling was that I was having. It felt weird,” Chen explained in a clip shared on Thursday, July 13. “I was trying to eat. I went to put just a fork of food in my mouth, and everything came out. I couldn’t eat. And then I was starting to slur.”
Chen sought medical care and was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, which is characterized by sudden weakness in the facial muscles and is often temporary. “I lost all facial function the minute I got into the hospital,” Chen recalled.
De Niro became a father in 1976 when he welcomed son Raphael, now 46, with Diahnne Abbott. He also adopted Drena, now 51, Abbott’s daughter from a previous relationship. De Niro became a dad again in 1995 when he welcomed twins Julian and Aaron, 27, with Toukie Smith via surrogate.
After exchanging vows with Grace Hightower, De Niro expanded his family with son Elliot, 25, in 1998 and daughter Helen, 11, in 2011. De Niro and Hightower, 68, called it quits in 2018 after two decades of marriage.
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Earlier this month, De Niro’s grandson Leandro died at age 19. An investigation into the teen’s death is currently ongoing, but his mother, Drena, claimed that his death was drug-related.
On Friday, law enforcement sources told both NBC News and ABC News that a suspect — 20-year-old Sofia Haley Marks — had been arrested in connection with Leandro’s death. According to authorities, Marks allegedly sold drugs to Leandro prior to his death. She is in police custody in New York City on federal drug distribution charges.
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