Robert De Niro says fatherhood 'feels great' at 80, gets emotional over his baby daughter

For Robert De Niro, fatherhood has not lost its shine after almost 50 years.

In an interview for the February/March 2024 issue of AARP The Magazine, released Thursday, the "Killers of the Flower Moon" actor, 80, revealed that a photo of his 12-year-old daughter, Helen De Niro, is the wallpaper on his phone. (She is his second child with Grace Hightower; he and Hightower filed for divorce in 2018.)

On the topic of family, De Niro apparently became emotional as he spoke about how his seventh and youngest child, nine-month-old Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro (whom he shares with his partner, Tiffany Chen), has made a profound impact on him.

"Everything that I'm consumed with or worried about just goes away when I look at her. It’s wondrous. When she gets older — who knows?" he said. "But that very sweet way she has of looking at you, taking you in, thinking and watching and observing ..."

Robert De Niro: Parenting 'doesn't get easier'

Though De Niro seldom opens up about his family, he briefly touched on fatherhood in an interview with The Guardian published in October.

The "Godfather" actor said "It doesn't get easier" when asked about parenting. "It is what it is. It's OK," he said. "I mean, I don't do the heavy lifting. I'm there; I support my girlfriend. But she does the work. And we have help, which is so important."

De Niro also mused about being an older father — and a grandfather.

"You think more about time. Every summer, every new season, everything, you say, ‘Well, I’m going to use these few months of the summer to be with my kids, my family,'" he said about his ambition to "stay alive." "Everything I do, time-wise, is important. Whatever I’m thinking about doing in two years, I’d better think about doing it now.”

De Niro adopted Diahnne Abbott's daughter, Drena De Niro, 52, in his first marriage with Abbott. Drena De Niro had a son, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, who died last July from an accidental drug overdose. Raphael De Niro, 47, was born in 1976. Robert De Niro and Abbott divorced in 1988.

He shares twins Julian and Aaron, 27, with Toukie Smith, whom he never married. Elliot, 25, and Helen Grace, 12, were born during his marriage with Grace Hightower. The couple married in 1997 and filed for divorce in 2018.

De Niro family tree: A timeline of Robert De Niro's relationships, children

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Robert De Niro: Fatherhood 'feels great' 9 months after birth of child