The actor’s daughter previously said she wants to follow in her mother’ footsteps as she continues be a symbol of representation
Robert De Niro showed his “love and support” for his daughter Airyn De Niro, who recently opened up about her identity publicly.
“I loved and supported Aaron as my son, and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter,” De Niro said in a statement to Deadline. “I don’t know what the big deal is … I love all my children.”
In profile with Them published on Tuesday, the actor’s daughter with model Toukie Smith discussed embracing her identity and the impact Black women have had throughout her journey. “I think a big part of [my transition] is also the influence Black women have had on me,” she says. “I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way.”
Earlier this year, tabloids jumped on a paparazzi photo of Airyn visiting her dad at the Greenwich Hotel, with headlines calling her “Robert De Niro’s nepo baby son” and questioning Airyn’s pink locs and feminine outfit. “Not only did they get information wrong about me… They just sort of reminded me that people really don’t know anything about me,” she said. None of the outlets, Airyn pointed out, reached out to her before the stories were published — part of the reason she decided to speak about her identity publicly.
“I’d want to hopefully be an inspiration for at least one other person like me who is Black, who is queer, who’s not a size extra small,” the 29-year-old told Them. “I’d want to see more trans women, more Black women who are maybe bigger-bodied or don’t fit the mold of super thin or heroin chic.”
“I want queer people of color and bigger-bodied people to have an Alex Consani. I want queer people of color and bigger-bodied people to have a Hunter Schafer,” she continued. “A part of me has always wanted to model and sort of follow my mom’s footsteps. Honestly, if I could be on the cover of Vogue with her or recreating one of her pictures, that would be a dream come true.”
