Family friend says Rob Reiner restrained 'grunting' son Nick age 11

Rob and Michele Reiner's son Nick was a deeply troubled child who needed physical restraint for his rages from a young age, according to a family friend who has known the 32-year-old all his life.

Nick Reiner, who on Sunday was arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing his parents, has spoken publicly of his addictions to cocaine, heroin and meth; his homelessness; and of being in and out of rehab from the age of 15.

But the family friend told the Daily Mail that Nick's issues began well before his teenage years, and sadly suggested that Reiner, 78, and Michele, 70, 'babied' their son — to the frustration of his siblings Romy, 27, and Jake, 34.

The friend has spoken in the last 24 hours to Jake, a former journalist turned filmmaker, and said that he was 'beyond himself' with grief.

But Nick's uncontrollable anger was not new, the friend added.

'A lot of their fights had to do with him just doing something self-destructive, and fighting back when they tried to help him,' the friend said. 'It did get physical sometimes — I'm not talking punches, but restraining him.

'I was over there, it must have been early 2000s because he was about 11, and he was throwing the biggest tantrum, and Reiner just had him in a bear hug to restrain him.

'The tantrum was over nothing, but he had so much anger in his eyes. It was terrifying really. And this happened a lot, and he never outgrew it. He had tantrums in his 20s.'

The family friend added that Nick was frequently at the Reiners' Brentwood home, which they purchased for $4.75 million in 1991 from the director's mentor, famed TV producer Norman Lear.

The storied six-bed mansion, which Reiner described as his dream house, was first built for Oscar-winner Henry Fonda in 1936, and then sold to Casablanca actor Paul Henreid.

Nick would be an unpleasant presence at the home, 'constantly smelling of weed and sweat,' the friend said.

'He was a mess. I was over one time, this had to be two or three years ago, and he came into the kitchen, clearly high on something, grabbed some stuff from the fridge and went back to his room, which was on the property.

'I said hello, and he just grunted. Michele said, "Aren't you going to be more polite?" - and he just grunted again and walked out. They had no control over him, when he was young, or when he got older. He was always rude.'

Reiner, whose reputation was cemented by films such as the 1987's The Princess Bride and the 1989 classic When Harry Met Sally, tried to help his son through his own Hollywood clout.

In 2015 the pair worked together on Being Charlie, a thinly disguised autobiographical tale in which a successful actor running for governor struggles to deal with his drug-addicted son.

Reiner directed the film, and Nick co-wrote the screenplay with a friend he had met in rehab. In interviews, the father-son pair spoke positively about the experience, with Reiner saying it had brought them closer and helped heal old wounds.

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Yet one of the cast members, Erik Aude, 45, told the Daily Mail he found the pair's dynamic troubling.

'They were fighting and arguing with each other while they were on set,' said Aude, whose scenes were ultimately cut from the film.

'They were kissing each other on the lips, which was weird.

'They were bickering and going off on each other on set. It wasn't comfortable. There was definitely hostility there.'

Reiner and his son did not shy away from 'showing their dirty laundry' in front of cast and crew members, Aude said.

He detailed one alleged incident where Nick was 'sitting on a couch' and Reiner was 'standing over the couch, and they were just bickering back and forth'.

Aude explained: 'The way couples would fight in front of people, they just don't care anymore about showing their dirty laundry, if that makes sense. That's the way the dad and the son worked.'

The family friend said Aude's recollections were typical.

'Nick said horrible things to his father, but he would defend him to the death with anyone else,' the friend said.

'And Rob and Michele were so protective of all their kids, but especially Nick. He was the one who gave them the most trouble. There were a lot of sleepless nights because of him. The drug use, the mental spirals. He was unwell a lot of the time, and they were doing whatever they could to hold it together for him. To anchor him. He just had so many problems; he was so troubled. And they loved him dearly.'

Their intense focus on Nick irritated his siblings, Romy and Jake, the friend said. Reiner also had an older adopted daughter, Tracy Reiner, 61, from his first marriage to her mother, actor and director Penny Marshall.

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'The other siblings resented him because who got the most attention? Nick. Who took all their energy? Nick. And who did they baby the most? Nick.

'Rob was very much a "stand on your own" type of father - except when it came to Nick. He saw him as having an illness, a sickness, and babied him because of it.

'But the other kids were so good. They loved their parents dearly, they loved Nick. He was just the one who drove them to the edge.'

And the friend said that, with hindsight, Reiner and Michele should have been tougher on their wayward son.

'They wanted him to be happy and at peace, and they probably didn't have the tough love that they needed all the time,' the friend said.

'But it was hard. He'd relapse and they'd give him a place to say. He'd move out and then back in. They never got rid of anything, because he'd leave, and then they knew he'd come back. Either when he ran out of money or when things just got too tough out there. He'd be back.'