Meet Tiffany Chen: Everything We Know About Robert De Niro's Girlfriend

Tiffany Chen, Robert De Niro's girlfriend and the mother of his seventh child, named Gia Virginia Chen De Niro, first met the actor on the set of one of his movies.

By Tierney Bricker May 11, 2023 9:23 PMTags
Watch: Robert De Niro REVEALS Name of Baby Girl With Girlfriend Tiffany Chen

Forget the father, we're all about the mother.

Robert De Niro made headlines this week when he confirmed that he had become a dad for the seventh time at the age of 79. The Oscar winner shared the happy news with CBS Mornings' Gayle King on May 11, revealing that he and girlfriend Tiffany Chen welcomed a baby girl named Gia Virginia Chen De Niro.

"She weighed eight pounds, six ounces, when she was born on April 6," King said, while also revealing the first photo of Gia. "How cute is this baby? Robert De Niro and his partner, that's Tiffany Chen, are over the moon about this little girl."

And, after a phone call with the About My Father star, King shared that "this baby was planned" and that Gia was "brought here by love."

But when did De Niro and Chen's romance begin? 

De Niro nor Chen have ever publicly commented on their relationship prior to announcing Gia's birth, though they have been spotted together multiple times.

photos
2023 Celebrity Babies

Following his divorce from his wife Grace Hightower after more than 20 years together in 2018, De Niro was first photographed with Chen in August 2021 when the couple was on a vacation in the South of France. 

The Hollywood JR / BACKGRID

However, the Raging Bull actor and Chen, a martial arts professional, first crossed paths years earlier.

Chen had a small role as the tai chi instructor for De Niro's character in Nancy Meyers' 2015 movie The Intern, which she also served as a consultant on for the scenes featuring the Chinese martial art. 

The daughter of Kung Fu Grandmaster William C.C. Chen, Chen has an impressive resume from her time as a competitive athlete, winning world titles and being inducted into the magazine Inside Kung Fu's Hall of Fame in 2011.

"I never practiced tai chi with the intention of looking to fight," she told the publication at the time. "I learned the form, I learned some push hands and then I started competing in push hands."

While not much is known about Chen, De Niro's About My Father co-star Kim Cattrall gushed that she is "a beautiful woman."

"She came to the set once with her family and watched filming," Cattrall told Extra, "She was gorgeous and sweet. I'm happy for both of them."

read
Robert De Niro Reveals Name of His and Girlfriend Tiffany Chen's Newborn Baby Girl

Keep reading to learn more about De Niro's complete family tree...

First Wife Diahnne Abbott

Robert De Niro met his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, while making Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, in which she had a bit part as the ticket taker at a porn theater Travis Bickle patronizes in the gritty 1976 classic.

They tied the knot April 28, 1976.

The couple also appeared together in Scorsese's 1977 tortured-romance drama New York, New York and his 1982 satire The King of Comedy.

Daughter Drena De Niro

The actor adopted Diahnne's daughter Drena, born Sept. 3, 1971, when they got married.

Son Raphael De Niro

De Niro and Abbott's son Raphael was born Nov. 9, 1976. Raphael later recalled the family moving from Los Angeles (where his father was born) to New York (the city his dad is most associated with) when he was about 10, telling The Real Deal it was a major "culture shock."

Raphael's parents divorced in 1988.

Drena and Raphael

Drena, whose first Instagram post is a black-and-white snap of her as a child out to dinner with her parents and then-couple Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston ("at this point all I wonder is WTF was I doing there ???" she wrote), has remained in show business as an actor and producer. 

Growing up, "it definitely wasn't the typical family lifestyle," she told Everything Zoomer, "but there was a lot of warmth, fun, craziness." She described her father as "a non-judgmental, open-minded person, always accepting of what people feel their paths are."

Raphael went into real estate, which also runs in the family. Per his website, he leads The De Niro Team at Douglas Elliman in Manhattan, and he's a partner in TriBeCa's Greenwich Hotel. 

The 46-year-old shares three kids with ex-wife Claudine de Matos and has been married to stylist Hannah Carnes since March 2020.

Acknowledging his last name alone turned him into fodder for tabloid coverage, Raphael told The Real Deal, "I just try to keep my head down and keep my private life private."

Grandson Leandro

Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, Drena's son with artist ex Carlos Rodriguez, died of a suspected overdose on July 2, 2023. He was 19.

A 20-year-old woman was arrested two weeks later on federal drug distribution charges in connection with Leandro's death, which his mother had quickly attributed to fentanyl-laced pills.

On Aug. 11, 2023, which would have been her son's 20th birthday, Drena wrote on Instagram, "Thank you for the happiest and most profound 2 decades of my life, little angel. I hope you are at peace and your spirit is filled with joy today and always."

De Niro called his grandson's death a "shock," telling People, "And I just then started thinking about all the things I could have, should have done maybe with him. I don't know if that would've made a difference. And so that's always playing through my mind. It shouldn't have happened."

Twin Sons With Touki Smith

De Niro and model-actress Touki Smith are parents to twin sons Julian and Aaron, born Oct. 20, 1995.

The actor and Smith, who at one point also owned a catering business that handled the food for then-couple Sean Penn and Madonna's anniversary party, split up in 1996 after eight years together.

Son Julian De Niro

While Aaron leads a private life, Julian is an actor who most recently appeared on Broadway in the Tony-nominated The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. In 2022 he played a young Barack Obama in the Showtime limited series The First Lady.

"For my kids, I tell them, 'If you want to be an actor or you want to do this or that, that's fine as long as you're happy. Just don't sell yourself short,'" De Niro told People in January 2020. "That's the most I would say—push yourself a little more and reach for what you really think it is you want to do. Don't be afraid."

Son Elliot and Daughter Helen With Second Wife Grace Hightower

De Niro is dad to son Elliot, born March 18, 1998, and daughter Helen Grace, born via surrogate on Dec. 23, 2011, with second wife Grace Hightower.

He married the Precious actress on June 17, 1997. De Niro filed for divorce barely two years later, but they reconciled before the split was official and renewed their vows in 2004.

They again began divorce proceedings in 2018.

When promoting Silver Linings Playbook, in which he played a father of an adult son with bipolar disorder, De Niro opened up about having a child with special needs, telling Katie Couric in 2013, "I don't like to get emotional, but I know exactly what [my character] goes through." In 2016 he shared that Elliott has autism.

Daughter Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro With Tiffany Chen

De Niro's seventh child was born April 6, 2023.

CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King got to do the name-reveal honors on her show May 11. "How cute is this baby?" she said of then-1-month-old Gia. "Robert De Niro and his partner, that's Tiffany Chen, are over the moon about this little girl."

While the two-time Oscar winner admittedly doesn't do the "heavy lifting," he waxed rhapsodic about having a baby in the house. 

"Everything that I'm consumed with or worried about just goes away when I look at her," he told AARP. "It's wondrous."

Watch E! News weeknights Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m., only on E!.