Celebrity
6 min read
Hollywood director Rob Reiner and wife Michele’s son arrested over their stabbing deaths
The son of Rob Reiner and his wife has been taken into custody after their bodies were found with stab wounds in their LA home.
Christine Salazar and Nick Bond
The son of Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, has been arrested in his parents’ stabbing deaths.
According to Page Six, the 32-year-old is being held at Parker Center Jail in Downton Los Angeles, with bail set at US$4 million (A$6 million).
Nick was identified as a person of interest when news broke of the couple’s death on Sunday.
The couple of 36 years were found inside their LA mansion with their throats slit by their daughter, Romy, who told police she believed the killer was another family member, TMZ reports.
Their eldest daughter, Tracy, has since broken her silence over the brutal murders, telling NBC News that she had been left in a state of disbelief.
“I came from the greatest family ever. I don’t know what to say. I’m in shock,” she said.'
32-year-old Nick is a Hollywood screenwriter, and spoke to People in 2016 about a years-long struggle with drug addiction that started when he was a teen, and saw him cycling in and out of rehab from the age of 15 onwards.
He said at the time that his experiences of addiction and bouts of homelessness had informed the screenplay for his semi-autobiographical film Being Charlie.
“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,” a spokesperson for the family said in a statement published by the Los Angeles Times.
“We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.”
The outlet also reported that there was no sign of forced entry into the home, and that a family member was being interviewed in relation to the deaths.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery Homicide Division is still investigating the shocking discovery inside Reiner and Singer’s home.
Variety first reported the LAPD’s grim discovery was made on Sunday, local time, at the filmmaker’s Brentwood home in California.
According to police, the deceased were a man and a woman, aged 78 and 68 years old.
A spokesperson for the department noted that detectives from LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division – a department tasked with handling high-profile investigations – were quickly called to the scene.
Tributes from Hollywood stars soon began pouring in following news of the director’s sudden passing.
Actor and comedian Eric Idle revealed that he had spoken with Reiner the night before his passing – a conversation, he said, that lasted more than an hour.
“Rob Reiner was a lovely man,” he wrote on social media. “I spoke to him last night for over an hour.”
“He was telling me about filming at Stonehenge and his thoughts for the future,” he said. “This is so awful. I shall miss him. A clever, talented and very thoughtful man.”
Lord of the Rings actor Elijah Wood, who headlined the 1994 movie North for Reiner, took to Twitter to express his sadness at the news.
“Horrified to hear of the passing of Rob Reiner and his wonderful wife [Michele],” said Wood. “So much love to their kids and family.”
Actress Roseanne Barr tweeted: “I’m absolutely shocked and horrified to hear about Rob Reiner and his wife Michele. This is a travesty. Praying for swift justice. Sympathies to their family and children. I’m at a loss for words.”
Former President Barack Obama said he and his wife, Michelle, are “heartbroken by the tragic passing of Rob Reiner and his beloved wife, Michele” in a post on Twitter.
“Rob’s achievements in film and television gave us some of our most cherished stories on screen. But beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people — and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action,” Obama said.
“Together, he and his wife lived lives defined by purpose. They will be remembered for the values they championed and the countless people they inspired.”
TMZ reports that the Los Angeles Fire Department were called to the home around 3.30pm local time on Sunday for medical aid and it was then that they found a man and a woman dead inside the house.
According to the outlet, the LAPD arrived about 10 minutes after LAFD and has now opened an investigation into the two deaths.
It was soon confirmed that the deceased man and woman were Reiner and Singer.
Reiner first found fame as an actor, with a lead role in the 1970s US sitcom All in the Family. But his career blossomed behind the camera, and he directed a string of hit movies, including When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride and A Few Good Men, which was nominated for Best Picture in 1993.
His wife, Singer, was a photographer who shot Donald Trump’s photo for the cover of his 1987 book The Art of the Deal.
Reiner and Singer were first introduced while he was directing When Harry Met Sally. They went on to marry that same year, 1989, and later welcomed three children together: Jake, Nick and Romy.
The director was also the adoptive father of actress Tracy Reiner, the daughter of his first wife, the late Laverne & Shirley star Penny Marshall.
Reiner continued to direct throughout his 36-year marriage to Singer on films such as The olf of Wall Street, The American President, The Bucket List and Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.
According to his IMDb page, he still had one more directorial project left in the pipeline before his death: the live concert film Spinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale, which was set for release next year.
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