Nick Reiner, the troubled Hollywood heir now facing two counts of first-degree murder, once openly admitted feeling deep “guilt” and spoke emotionally about his loving parents years before he was accused of killing them.
The chilling comments have resurfaced from a 2016 podcast interview, as the 32-year-old stands accused in the brutal killings of his famous father, director Rob Reiner, and Rob’s wife, Michele Reiner.
The interview aired on the Inside Out With Paul Mecurio podcast in May 2016, featuring an unusually candid conversation between father and son about their complicated relationship and Nick’s long battle with addiction.
The segment was released just weeks after the premiere of Being Charlie, a film directed by Rob Reiner and co-written by Nick, which was based on the son’s real-life struggles with heroin addiction and homelessness.
During the nearly 40-minute discussion, host Paul Mecurio asked Nick whether it was difficult to expose such intimate details of his life.
“It’s not hard to reveal that stuff,” Nick said. “What’s hard is revealing it and then being told you’re just a spoiled, white, rich kid.”
“But who would say that to you? Not your dad,” Mercurio responded.
“The world,” Rob Reiner interjected, explaining that he understood what it meant to be labeled as the “son of” someone famous. Rob referenced his own father, Carl Reiner, the legendary comedian, writer, and director who won 11 Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy.
When pressed on how to handle the scrutiny and stigma, Rob said, “You have to block out all that extraneous noise,” adding that it was even harder for his son as the spotlight intensified.
Rob said Nick suffered a “double whammy” by being linked to both him and his grandfather, insisting outsiders could never fully grasp what his son had endured.
Earlier in the interview, Nick said he felt “lucky” to have parents who genuinely cared about him.
He admitted he felt “guilt” when he would “go out and do things like drugs,” knowing it caused his parents to worry.
“Deep down, he trusted that we loved him and that we were there for him,” Rob said. “And that put a bit of a brake on certain things.”
Nick Reiner has long been open about his struggles with substance abuse, revealing he was in and out of rehab from his teenage years.
“I am a spoiled, white, rich kid from a Hollywood family,” he told NPR in 2016. “But that just shows how powerful drugs are — you don’t care about any of that.”
Roughly nine and a half years after that haunting interview, Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Reiner, 70, were found dead in their upscale Brentwood home in Los Angeles, both suffering fatal stab wounds.
The couple’s daughter, Romy Reiner, 28, discovered their bodies. Nick Reiner — who had been living in his parents’ guest house — was arrested hours later at a motel near the Santa Monica Pier.
He has since been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and made his first court appearance on Wednesday, when a judge postponed his arraignment until January 7.
