Robert De Niro And Wife Grace Hightower's Marriage Ends After 20 Years

Robert De Niro Splits From His Wife Of 20 Years, Grace Hightower

• Actor Robert De Niro and his wife Grace Hightower split after 20 years of marriage.
• The couple got married in 1997 after over a decade of relationship.
• Two years after their marriage, De Niro filed for divorce, however, they later reunited and their divorce was never finalized.
• He was previously married to Diahnne Abbott with whom he has a daughter, Derena, 47, and a son Raphael, 42.

Actor Robert De Niro has split from his wife of 20 years, Grace Hightower. A source close to the couple confirmed their split to People and said they have been living apart.

The insider told People,

Sometimes things don't work out the way you hope or want them to.

The 75-year-old The Wizard of Lies actor and Hightower, 63 got married in 1997 after over a decade of relationship. The ex-lovebirds have two children; son Elliott, 20, and daughter Helen Grace, 6.

De Niro and Hightower have also split in 1999, just two years after their marriage where the actor had also filed for divorce. They later got into a custody dispute over their son and they ultimately ended reunited and their divorce was never finalized.

They renewed their wedding vows in November 2004 in front of A-list audiences including Martin Scorsese, Ben Stiller, Tom Brokaw, and Meryl Streep among others.

At the time of their vows renewal, De Niro jokingly addressed their previous marital problems saying he wanted to make sure "this one sticks."

The estranged couple last appeared together at the red carpet in June when the attended the 72nd Annual Tony Awards in New York City.

In a previous interview with People, The Raging Bull actor opened about raising his kids saying,

There are great moments and moments of sadness. Sometimes you're the last person they want to deal with. It's like when you walk your kids to school and they get older and they don't want to hold your hand or kiss you goodbye.

Besides,  De Niro also has two children, 23-year-old twin sons Julian and Aaron De Niro with his ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith; and two children, daughter, Derena, 47, and son Raphael, 42, with ex-wife Diahnne Abbott.