The Tool Desk
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The seven children at a glance
The table below lists each child by the name currently used in reporting, the mother as publicly identified, and how the relationship is described in the sources. Ages are left out on purpose; see the section on ages below.
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| Child | Mother (as publicly reported) | Relationship to De Niro | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drena | Diahnne Abbott | Adopted daughter | Biography.com says she is Abbott’s daughter from a previous relationship. |
| Raphael | Diahnne Abbott | Son (reported) | Reported as Abbott’s son with De Niro. |
| Julian | Toukie Smith | Son (twin) | Twin brother of Airyn. |
| Airyn | Toukie Smith | Daughter (twin) | Earlier reporting called her Aaron. See the section on Airyn below. |
| Elliot | Grace Hightower | Son (reported) | Listed with Helen in contemporaneous reporting. |
| Helen | Grace Hightower | Daughter (reported) | Listed with Elliot in contemporaneous reporting. |
| Gia | Tiffany Chen | Daughter (youngest child) | Announced in 2023 without the mother’s name; a February 2024 GMA report identified Chen. |
How the count went from six to seven
For a time, the public count was six. In a 2023 interview promoting About My Father, a reporter referred to six children, and De Niro corrected him. ET Canada recorded his reply, which ABC then reported: “Seven, actually. I just had a baby.” ABC noted that De Niro’s representative offered no further details at that time.
The six children listed in reporting from that period were Drena and Raphael with Diahnne Abbott, twins Aaron and Julian with Toukie Smith, and Elliot and Helen with Grace Hightower. The seventh child, Gia, was the one added by De Niro’s correction.
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Children by mother
Diahnne Abbott: Drena and Raphael
Drena and Raphael are the eldest children in the list. Raphael is reported as Abbott’s son with De Niro. Drena’s status is different. De Niro adopted her, and Biography.com identifies her as Abbott’s daughter from a previous relationship. Readers who see her described as De Niro’s daughter should understand that this is an adoptive relationship, and that her biological father is not named in the reporting reviewed here.
Toukie Smith: Julian and Airyn
Julian and Airyn are twins born to De Niro and Toukie Smith. Older coverage names the twins as Julian and Aaron. Current reporting uses Airyn for the second twin, as described in the next section.
Grace Hightower: Elliot and Helen
Elliot and Helen are the children reported with actress Grace Hightower. Coverage from the period when the count was six treats them as a pair, and later reporting continues to name Hightower as their mother.
Tiffany Chen: Gia
Gia is De Niro’s youngest child and the only one of the seven whose birth was announced after the others were already widely reported. The details of her birth are covered in the section on Gia below.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsAiryn: current name and pronouns
In 2025, EL PAÍS reported that Airyn, the twin previously reported as Aaron, had publicly identified as a transgender woman. The same report reproduced De Niro’s response:
“I loved and supported Aaron as my son, and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter. I don’t know what the big deal is. I love all my children.”
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Use Airyn and she/her when writing about her today. Keep “Aaron” only where you are quoting or describing older reporting, and say so in the sentence so readers can follow the change.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Gia, the youngest child
When De Niro confirmed the seventh child in 2023, the announcement did not name the mother. In February 2024, GMA reported that the youngest child was daughter Gia, then ten months old, and named Tiffany Chen as her mother. In that interview De Niro spoke about his daughter:
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“She’s such an adorable baby. So sweet.”
He also said: “So it’s a great joy and relief to just be with her in the moment.”
The “ten months old” detail is from the February 2024 report and describes her age at that time only.
Why this article does not list current ages
Ages printed in older stories are snapshots from the date of publication. The reporting reviewed for this article does not provide a reliable, current age for each child, so we have not published one. If you need current ages, check recent reporting from a named outlet and confirm the date of each figure before repeating it.
Quick Recap
Naming and wording
- Use the names in the table above as the current names: Drena, Raphael, Julian, Airyn, Elliot, Helen, and Gia.
- Write “Airyn” with she/her pronouns. Mention “Aaron” only when describing older coverage.
- Describe Drena as adopted by De Niro, not as his biological child.
- Describe the mothers as “reported” or “as publicly identified” where the sources do not state the relationship directly.
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