Robert De Niro Shares Heartbreaking News About His Ex-Wife

Legendary actor Robert De Niro is currently embroiled in a story that sounds like it could’ve come right out of one of his movies. There’s a massive amount of money at stake for a start. But this isn’t another gangster flick – it’s a divorce. De Niro is splitting from his wife Grace Hightower, and recently things got ugly.

Unhappily married

Some might say the relationship was clearly doomed from the start. Because De Niro was actually already married when he first met Hightower at a restaurant in 1987. He was the husband of actress and singer Diahnne Abbott back then – but allegedly he had a string of extramarital affairs.

A tangled web

Hightower had no idea who De Niro was back then, which is quite a thing to admit. But she was definitely about to find out. In those days the actor was a headline-grabber thanks to his many relationships. After divorcing Abbott in 1988, he went into a long-term relationship with model Toukie Smith and had twins with her. Only after splitting from her, too, did he find love with Hightower.

Easing in

Even though she was with a world-famous celebrity, Hightower managed to keep the details of her personal life fairly quiet. One of the only interviews she gave about De Niro was for The New York Times newspaper in 2013, and all she said was, “It was an ease-in. It wasn’t a whirlwind [romance].”

Tying the knot

In 1996 De Niro proposed to Hightower with a reported $100,000 engagement ring, and the following year they were married. And it was a quiet ceremony but a star-studded one – Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel were among the guests. There were rumors even then, however, that not all was well.