Oscar Award-winning actor Robert De Niro opened up to Out magazine about his relationship with his father, who struggled with accepting his sexuality.
Di Nero talks about his late father, Robert De Niro Sr., in an HBO documentary premiering on June 9. "Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr." features Di Nero reading his father's diary entries and admits he regrets not being able to help his late father sooner.
Check out the best snippets of his Out magazine interview below. You read De Niro's full interview here.
De Niro on why he refuses to sell or change his father's old studio in Soho NYC:
"I didn't think of just selling it and dismantling it. Luckily, I could afford to keep it going, so I left it as is. My mother was alive then. I don't remember what we discussed. I documented and went through everything to make sure we catalogued it, and then I said, 'I'm keeping it like this.'
"His older studios, like, a block away, maybe 60 years ago, were not like this. Then it was Siberia - for real - on West Broadway or LaGuardia Place. My mother had this place first and then she gave it to my father; they were friends. She came down here a long time ago. She had a place in the Meatpacking District, like, 50 years ago."
De Niro on why he decided to "come out" for his father:
"I felt I had to. I felt obligated. It was my responsibility to make a documentary about him. I was always planning on doing it, but never did. Then Jane Rosenthal, my partner at Tribeca [Enterprises], said, 'We should start doing that now.' It was not intended to be on HBO. It was just something I wanted to do."
De Niro on his father being conflicted about his homosexuality:
"About his homosexuality? Yeah, he probably was, being from that generation, especially from a small town upstate. I was not aware, much, of it. I wish we had spoken about it much more. My mother didn't want to talk about things in general, and you're not interested when you're a certain age. Again, for my kids, I want them to stop and take a moment and realize that you sometimes have to do things now instead of later, because later may be 20 years from now - and that's too late."
