Actor Robert De Niro and his wife, philanthropist Grace Hightower, are calling it quits after 20-plus years of marriage.
The longtime loves have reportedly separated and are now living apart, reports PEOPLE. The couple first wed in 1997 and share two children together—son Elliott, 20, and daughter Helen Grace, 6, whom they welcomed via surrogate. Hightower, a socialite, actress and singer, first met De Niro back in 1987 at upscale restaurant London restaurant Mr. Chow, where she worked as a hostess at the time. In 2013, Hightower told Katie Couric she had no idea who De Niro was at the time they met, but her co-workers filled her in later in the night after he continued to flirt with her.
While the news may come has a surprise, this isn’t the first time that De Niro, 75, and Hightower, 63, have decided to end things. The Oscar-winner filed for divorce in 1999 and the couple went to court in a custody battle shortly afterward. They eventually reconciled.
Hightower has been very active with charity work in New York and around the world and also had small roles in Lee Daniels’ film Precious and The Paperboy.
