Robert De Niro defends decision to have another child at 79, 'when you’re older you have awareness of certain things in life'

Robert De Niro welcomed his seventh child last month at the age of 79 - a decision he has now defended in a new interview.

The fact that the actor had welcomed a baby at the age of 79 sparked a mixed reaction from the public - but Robert has spoken out about his decision to become a father again later in life amid the news that Al Pacino is expecting a baby at the age of 83.

During Thursday’s episode of Today, Robert said, "Listen, Al Pacino just had a baby, I was told yesterday morning. He’s a few years older than me. God bless him. Very happy for him."

He added of his decision to become a father again at 79, “When you’re older you have awareness of certain things in life, dynamics, everything, family dynamics. You can’t avoid learning certain things and how you can deal with those and manage them and this and that, the usual.”

And referencing the fact that he and his pal Al Pacino are fathers again at a similar age, he said,  “Yeah, it’s amazing, but I’m very happy about it.”

Speaking to ET Canada about the issue of parenting, the Hollywood icon casually corrected his interviewer on the number of his children. 

"I know you have six kids," Brittnee Blair began, before De Niro cut her off to say, "Seven, actually. I just had a baby." After the interview had finished, De Niro's representation confirmed to ET that the Meet the Parents star had indeed welcomed a seventh child. At the time, the mother of this child was not revealed.

However, it has since been revealed that he shares the baby with Tiffany Chen, an American martial arts instructor who starred alongside the actor in the 2015 film, The Intern.

The Oscar-winning actor revealed to CBS that he and his partner welcomed their daughter, Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro in the early spring. Robert revealed to Gayle King that Gia weighed eight pounds and six ounces and was born on April 6, 2023.

Gayle said that Robert and Tiffany are 'over the moon' with their new baby and that Gia was a planned pregnancy that the couple wanted and made 'with love'.

The star said that he only mentioned his newborn as a way of not 'denying' her when it was mentioned that he had six children. However, he admits that he didn't plan to announce her birth as he didn't want to take attention away from the film he was promoting and make the shared interviews all about his personal life.

The actor is also the father to adopted daughter Drena, 51, as well as biological son Raphael, 46, from his first marriage to American actress Diahnne Abbott. He also shares twin sons, Aaron and Julian, 27, with Toukie Smith, whom he dated between 1988 and 1996. His youngest children are Eliot De Niro, 25, and 11-year-old Helen Grace De Niro, both of whom he shares with ex-wife Grace Hightower. 

Speaking about his experience of fatherhood during his ET interview, De Niro admitted that he doesn't consider himself to be a "cool dad" and that he's no stranger to having conflicts with his children. 

"You know, my kids disagree with me at times, and they’re respectful," he revealed. "My daughter, she’s 11, she gives me grief sometimes and I argue with her. I adore her, but, you know. And my youngest now, that’ll be more to come. But, that’s what it is."