Susanna Reid shared her worries for the fate of Robert De Niro’s newborn (Picture: Shutterstock)
Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid weighed in on Robert De Niro’s unexpected baby news and admitted she was concerned the star wouldn’t be alive to see his seventh child grow old.
The presenter, 52, was mediating a debate on ageing parents when she opted to share her own views on the issue during Wednesday morning’s ITV show.
Inviting experts to comment on the news that the Hollywood A-lister, 79, had recently become a father for the seventh time, Susanna and her co-host Ed Balls had their say.
She explained that she felt the 79-year-old actor and admitted: ‘Aren’t we saying the quiet bit out loud which is that if he’s 79 when the child is born, he’s not going to get to the stage where he sees that child having their own children?’
Beside her, Ed shared that he felt it was ‘wrong’ and wasn’t keen on the idea that by the time his child was 18 and heading off to university, the celebrated actor would be nearing 100 years old ‘if he is still alive that is’.
Their television debate came after the Oscar-winning actor revealed his news during a recent interview with ET Canada about his upcoming film About My Father.
Susanna weighed in on Robert’s new baby (Picture: ITV)
The star is a dad to seven children (Picture: AP)
Asked about being a father of six, he corrected the reporter, saying: ‘Seven, actually … I just had a baby.’
Representatives for De Niro later confirmed the news to the PA news agency.
De Niro stars alongside Sebastian Maniscalco in About My Father – which sees a man encouraged by his fiancee to bring his father along to spend a holiday weekend with her wealthy and eccentric family.
Questioned about his own experiences of fatherhood, Robert told ET Canada: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been a cool father.
He let the news slip during a recent interview (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I’m ok. My kids disagree with me at times, they’re respectful.
‘My daughter is 11 and she gives me grief sometimes and I argue with her and adore her.’
He added: ‘With my youngest now there will be more to come but that’s, you know – that’s what it is.’
Robert has six other children: Drena, Raphael, Aaron, Julian, Elliot and Helen.
The veteran actor added that sometimes he has to be ‘stern about stuff’ with his children.
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‘I mean, there’s no way around it with kids. I don’t like to have to lay down the law and stuff like that. But, (sometimes) you just have no choice.
‘And any parent, I think, would say the same thing. You always want to do the right thing by the children and give them the benefit of the doubt but sometimes you can’t.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.
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‘Aren’t we saying the quiet bit out loud?’