'I wish we had spoken about it more' Robert DeNiro opens up about gay father
HE MIGHT be known for his tough guy exterior, but Robert DeNiro has happily dropped the persona for a recent interview, in which he opens up about his late, openly gay father.
The star - who is preparing to star in a revealing new HBO documentary about the struggling artist - spoke to Out magazine this month, where he revealed that he felt a kind of responsibility to tell his father's story.
"I felt I had to. I felt obligated," he said int he emotional interview.
"It was my responsibility to make a documentary about him. It was not intended to be on HBO. It was just something I wanted to do."
Originally, De Niro intended simply to make the film for his own kids, using archival footage from the ’70s with the help of Martin Scorsese’s editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
Speaking frankly about the relationship he had with his father, who died in 1993, he admitted that it wasn't the closest relationship.
"We were not the type of father and son who played baseball together, as you can surmise. But we had a connection," he said.
"I wasn't with him a lot, because my mother and he were separated and divorced. As I say in the documentary, I looked after him in certain ways."
"He was absent in some ways. He was very loving. He adored me … as I do my kids."
And speaking about his sexuality, he added that he wishes they had spoken about it more.
"I was not aware, much, of it. I wish we had spoken about it much more. My mother didn’t want to talk about things in general, and you’re not interested when you’re a certain age.
And when asked if he thought his father felt conflicted about being gay, he added: "Yeah, he probably was, being from that generation, especially from a small town upstate."
Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr. premieres June 9 on HBO.