Nick Reiner, Rob's Son, Battled Drugs Before Parents Were Allegedly Stabbed to Death

Generate Key Takeaways

Nick Reiner, the son of famed Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, battled drug addiction and even lived on the streets for a time. His parents tried to help him, with his dad even directing a movie about addiction. Nick, 32, has now been taken into custody and is being held on $4 million bail, in the wake of their brutal deaths, according to Los Angeles County jail records.

Rob and Nick "got into an argument on Saturday evening at a party at Conan O’Brien’s home," and people "noticed Nick acting strangely at the party," according to The Los Angeles Times. The tragedy caps years of turmoil in the family as Rob and his wife tried to intervene with their troubled son.

A 2016 article in People Magazinedescribed Nick Reiner's struggle with drugs and homelessness despite being born into one of the most acclaimed families in Hollywood (Nick's paternal grandfather, Carl Reiner, was also a beloved actor). At that time, Nick was trying to turn his recovery and past into a film project. That film project, directed by Rob Reiner, was a father-son tale called Being Charlie that leaned heavily on Nick's drug addiction experiences. The Los Angeles Times reported at the time that Reiner and his son were making the movie to "exorcise drug demons."

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Eerily, that story starts with this passage, "For years, Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife struggled as their son Nick was addicted to hard drugs, rotating in and out of rehab facilities like they were shopping malls. The couple wondered if there was an end in sight, and whether it would be the tragic one that a voice in the back of their heads kept telling them was coming."

“I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas,” Nick explained to People in the 2016 interview, which was conducted in his dad's office in West Hollywood. “I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun.”

Tragedy unfolded in the family's Brentwood, CA, mansion on December 14, when the bodies of Rob Reiner and his wife were discovered around 3:30 p.m. Daily Variety reported that authorities are treating the deaths as an "apparent homicide." TMZ reported that "the two suffered lacerations consistent with a knife. The LAPD's Robbery Homicide Division is still investigating." ABC 7 reported that they were "stabbed" to death. Rob Reiner, in addition to being an actor, directed some of the best-known films of the last few decades, such as The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, and A Few Good Men.His wife was a producer and photographer.

Nick Reiner Was Arrested After His Parents Were Found With Their 'Throats Slit'

People Magazine, shortly after the bodies were identified, published a dramatic claim about the couple's deaths. People Magazine alleged, citing multiple sources, that police believe Nick Reiner killed his parents. TMZ is now alleging that the Reiners' bodies were found by their daughter "with their throats slit inside their Los Angeles home."

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

In addition to sons Nick and Jake, the Reiners had daughter Romy Reiner together. Rob Reiner also adopted daughter Tracy during his marriage to first wife, the late Penny Marshall.

After People magazine pinned the deaths on Nick Reiner Sunday, police stressed in a news conference that the investigation was still in its early stages. People's story cited "multiple sources who have spoken with family members." They were not named. According to ABC News, authorities said on Sunday night, December 14, "that they have not identified a suspect and nobody is currently in custody." However, the jail records say that Nick Reiner was arrested at 9:15 p.m. on December 14 and booked into the jail at 5:04 a.m. on December 15. Nick is being held on an unspecified felony. He is described as standing 6 foot 3 inches tall and weighing 230 pounds.

Authorities were very cagey during their Sunday press conference. In fact, authorities had not even formally identified the decedents as Reiner and his wife, but the confirmation of the victims' identities came from family members to the news media, and high-profile politicians weighed in with glowing tributes. Many sites were reporting that the Reiners died of an apparent homicide, though, KTLA-TV among them.

The latter claim comes right from the Los Angeles Police Department, which wrote on X, "Robbery Homicide Division (RHD) responded to the residence, which has been identified as the home of Rob Reiner. At this time, no further details are available as this is an ongoing RHD investigation, into an apparent homicide."

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

The Los Angeles Times reported, through law enforcement sources, that a "family member was being interviewed in connection with the deaths." The Times did not name that person, but said there were no signs of forced entry to the couple's Brentwood mansion, where the deaths occurred.

“We are not looking for anyone as a suspect or in any other manner at this time,” LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said at a news conference, CNN reported. According to CNN, "Police detectives were interviewing a family member Sunday evening regarding the deaths." However, Hamilton said at the news conference "that no one had yet been detained nor was anyone being interviewed 'as a suspect,'" CNN added, quoting him as saying, “We’re going to try to speak to every family member that we can to get to the facts of this investigation."

The New York Post labeled the press conference "shambolic," noting that authorities said they hadn't obtained a search warrant "six hours after 911 was called" in order to "fully investigate the murders." According to The Post, the Reiner mansion was "decked out in holiday decor Sunday. It’s in a posh high-end Brentwood neighborhood with homes protected by large hedges and gates." Within hours, Nick Reiner was in custody.

Nick Reiner Claimed He Was Recovered From Drug Addiction: 'I Met Crazy Great People'

In the 2016 article with People, Nick Reiner spoke about how drug addiction was something he could draw from in his art. Nick Reiner "was packed off to his first rehab facility around his 15th birthday," People reported at that time. "Now 22, he’s co-written a film loosely based on that experience – and the 17 rehab stays that followed – directed by his dad, Rob."

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

“That made me who I am now, having to deal with that stuff,” Nick said in the 2016 interview. “I met crazy great people there, so out of my element. Now, I’ve been home for a really long time, and I’ve sort of gotten acclimated back to being in L.A. and being around my family. But there was a lot of dark years there.”

Nick told People that he became homeless when he didn't want to go back to rehab. “If I wanted to do it my way and not go to the programs they were suggesting, then I had to be homeless,” he told the magazine.

Time Magazinealso wrote about the movie, Being Charlie, in 2016, declaring that it was "a deeply personal one" for Reiner and his son. The co-writer met Nick in rehab. It told the story of a teenager struggling to recover from drug addiction while his politician dad ran for governor.

“It was very, very hard going through it the first time, with these painful and difficult highs and lows,” Rob Reiner said to the LA Times. “And then making the movie dredged it all up again.”

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

“The program works for some people but it can’t work for everybody,” Rob Reiner added. “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.”

Michele told the LA Times: "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." Nick said in that interview, "I got sick of it. I got sick of doing that…. I come from a nice family; I’m not supposed to be out there on the streets and in homeless shelters doing all these…things.”

The Reiner Family Declared Itself 'Heartbroken'

The Reiner family released a statement to Variety after news broke of the couple's deaths.

“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,” a family spokesman said in a statement. “We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.”

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Comedians Billy Crystal and Larry Davidwere seen arriving at the Reiner home after the deaths were discovered.

Related:

Related:

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Dec 15, 2025, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

• About Our Ads