A famous father, a troubled son: How addiction tormented the Reiner family

Rob Reiner was 20 minutes into a video podcast promoting his caller movie — a semi-autobiographical communicative of a celebrated dada and his drug-addicted lad — erstwhile the interviewer asked what his lad Nick, who co-wrote the movie, learned from it.

Reiner pointed conscionable off-screen. Nick, past 22, had been determination the full time.

“He’s close here. You tin inquire him,” Reiner said successful the 2016 interrogation with comedian Paul Mecurio astir the film, “Being Charlie.”

“Oh, that’s your son!” a amazed Mecurio said, inviting the thin young antheral with heavy achromatic glasses to articulation the treatment astir “Being Charlie,” which is based connected Nick’s experiences bouncing successful and retired of cause rehab arsenic a teenager.

At times quiescent and seemingly uncomfortable, Nick fto his begetter bash astir of the talking. But erstwhile asked wherefore helium started utilizing drugs successful the archetypal place, helium blamed the fame of his dada and his grandfather, the acclaimed manager and comedian Carl Reiner.

“I had nary identity, and I had nary passions,” Nick said. “And I deliberation the crushed I had nary individuality was due to the fact that I person a celebrated dada and a celebrated grandpa, and that fame benignant of informs who you are. So, I wanted to borderline retired my ain individuality with a much rebellious, angry, drug-addicted benignant of persona.”

On Sunday night, Los Angeles constabulary officers arrested Nick Reiner, 32, connected suspicion of murdering his 78-year-old begetter and his mother, Michele Singer Reiner, a 70-year-old lensman and producer. The mates werer recovered dormant astatine their Brentwood location Sunday afternoon.

Family friends told The Times that Nick had been surviving successful a guesthouse connected his parents’ spot and that his parent had go progressively acrophobic astir his intelligence wellness successful caller weeks.

Friends besides said that Rob Reiner and his lad got into an statement Saturday evening astatine a enactment astatine Conan O’Brien’s location and that radical determination noticed Nick acting strangely. The household friends, who asked not to beryllium identified, said the Reiners’ daughter, Romy, recovered her parents Sunday day astatine their location connected Chadbourne Avenue.

Law enforcement sources told The Times that determination was nary motion of forced introduction and that the Reiners had injuries accordant with being stabbed. Nick Reiner was being held without bail astatine the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s inmate records.

Nick Reiner, calved successful 1993, is the 2nd of 3 children Rob Reiner had with Michele, whom helium joined successful 1989 aft gathering her connected the acceptable of the beloved romanticist drama “When Harry Met Sally,” which helium directed.

When Rob Reiner was interviewed implicit luncheon successful 1998 by a Times columnist, Nick, past 5, tumbled astir the table, prompting his begetter to quip: “He’s floppy. He’s ever moving around. He was calved similar that. When helium came out, the doc said, ‘This is simply a squirmy one.’ ”

Soon, the columnist noted, “Nick’s lensman mom, Michele ... arrived to scoop him up.”

In interviews, Nick has said that helium and his dada — who was quieter astatine location than helium was successful his nationalist relation — did not enslaved overmuch erstwhile helium was younger.

In the 2016 interrogation with Mecurio, Nick said that helium was listless and that “I had thing to capable my time. I had thing to look guardant to.”

As a teenager, Nick struggled with heroin addiction, cycling successful and retired of rehabilitation centers and experiencing bouts of homelessness.

He had gotten cleanable by 2015, erstwhile helium co-wrote “Being Charlie,” astir a drug-addicted young antheral whose begetter is simply a cold, erstwhile movie prima moving for politician of California. His begetter directed the film, which was co-written with Matt Elisofon.

During the film’s property tour, Nick — who often sat softly arsenic his begetter spoke — said galore aspects of the movie were inspired by their relationship, including a enactment that the begetter quality tells his son: “I’d alternatively you hatred maine and you beryllium alive.”

After putting himself retired determination with the film, helium said successful the interrogation with Mercurio, it was hard to spot the nationalist bash him arsenic “a spoiled achromatic affluent kid.”

At that point, Rob interjected, saying: “Listen, I had to speech to him astir this. Listen, I cognize what it’s similar to beryllium ‘the lad of,’ and to person radical presume definite things astir you, and it’s very, precise difficult.”

In public, Nick praised his parents for helping him find sobriety. But helium besides said helium felt blameworthy disappointing them and was trying to fig retired his ain path.

Rob said that making the movie with his lad was therapeutic, allowing them to enactment done past trauma and make a person relationship.

During a 2015 interrogation with The Times astatine the Toronto International Film Festival, wherever the movie premiered, Rob said helium regretted valuing the proposal of counselors implicit the dependable of his lad arsenic helium and his woman tried to support Nick successful rehab.

“When Nick would archer america that it wasn’t moving for him, we wouldn’t listen,” helium said. “We were desperate, and due to the fact that the radical had diplomas connected their wall, we listened to them erstwhile we should person been listening to our son.”

Michele added: “We were truthful influenced by these people. They would archer america he’s a liar, that helium was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them.”

After the couple’s deaths, 1 household person said Rob and Michele “did everything for Nick. Every attraction program, therapy sessions and enactment speech their lives to prevention Nick’s repeatedly.” The person said that they had “never known a household truthful dedicated to a child” and that “to person it extremity this mode is awful.”

In the pivotal 1970s sitcom “All successful the Family,” Rob Reiner, successful the relation of Michael “Meathead” Stivic, played a wide young antheral who often butted heads with his staunchly conservative, bigoted father-in-law, Archie Bunker, played by Carroll O’Connor.

One 1977 episode, “Archie’s Bitter Pill,” touches connected addiction, with Archie getting hooked connected pills arsenic helium copes with slump triggered by his caller barroom not getting overmuch business.

When Archie starts acting irritable and erratic, stuffing pancakes into his pouch earlier storming disconnected to enactment 1 morning, Michael solemnly declares: “That antheral is connected something.”

Little is publically known astir Nick’s beingness successful the decennary since “Being Charlie” premiered. According to IMDb, helium has not been listed successful different movie credits.

Nick appeared with his household successful September astatine the Egyptian Theatre successful Hollywood for the premiere of “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” which his dada directed.

In August 2018, Nick did a instrumentality interrogation connected “Dopey,” a podcast astir addiction and recovery, successful which helium described wrecking his parents’ guesthouse.

“I got wholly spun retired connected uppers — I deliberation it was coke and thing other — and I was up for days connected end, and I started punching retired antithetic things successful my guesthouse,” including a TV, helium said.

The incident, helium said, happened astir the clip his parents told him helium had to get retired and spell to rehab.

Nick said successful that interrogation that helium was past “smoking a small weed, taking a small Adderall.” He said that helium was smoking cookware “as a preventative measure” to halt himself from doing harder drugs and that helium was not being particularly productive.

But helium said that, astir a twelvemonth earlier, helium “got backmost connected dope and different things” and “wound up having a cocaine bosom attack” connected an airplane.

The big told him: “I besides privation you to instrumentality a changeable astatine betterment again sometime, past you tin telephone successful and accidental however bully your beingness is.”

Times unit writers Suhauna Hussain, Alexandra Del Rosario and Grace Toohey contributed to this report.