Rob Reiner claimed he was ‘desperate’ about Nick Reiner in years old conversation

Rob Reiner’s old interview with journalist Steven Zeitchik has resurfaced after his and Michele Reiner’s tragic deaths.

Zeitchik, who had been working for L.A. Times at the time of the interview, shared his recollections from the conversation he had with Rob, Michele, and their son Nick Reiner in 2015.

“Ever since news broke that Rob and Michele Reiner had been killed in their home — according to the LAPD, by a knife-wielding Nick — I have replayed every moment of that night of my mind. Every clang of the fork, every Rob-esque digression, every uncomfortable Nick shift in the chair,” the entertainment editor published for The Hollywood Reporter. (Sic)

He sat down to dinner with the Reiners ahead of Being Charlie’s release — a film the late filmmaker had directed based on his troubled son’s struggles with drug addiction, who co-wrote its screenplay.

“I’m so proud; it’s incredible,” Rob had said during the conversation. “He’s been through everything; it’s so hard, you’re in this position of no control. And how he’s sober, here on his 22nd birthday, and he wrote this movie.”

Nick, who has now been charged in his parents’ murder, told the interviewer that he “couldn’t get by” in the rehabilitation programmes he had participated in. While Rob and Micehele revealed that they should have been more trusting their son’s instincts.

“When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen. We were desperate, and because the people had diplomas on their wall, we listened to them when we should have been listening to our son,” said Rob.

While his wife added, “We were so influenced by these people. They would tell us he’s a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them.”

Elsewhere during the conversation, the director also admitted to failing at the “number one job of any parent” — “It was very hard. The number one job of any parent is to keep their child safe. And I hadn’t done that,” he had described his son’s suffering while “almost tearing up”.

“And now here I have done that. I kept him safe. He came out alive,” he added.

Steven Zeitchik then wrote that after the latest tragedy, “the words kept ricocheting through my brain. Yes, Nick had come out alive. It was Rob that hadn’t.”

Rob and Michele Reiner were discovered dead at their home in California on December 14, while their son Nick Reiner has since been arrested and charged with their murder.