Robert De Niro's Prenup With Ex-Wife Grace Hightower Included One Ironclad Detail

To prenup or not to prenup, that is the question. On the one hand, it's a romance killer; on the other, it's a savvy safety measure if your marriage goes down the drain and you have millions to lose. When Robert De Niro wed Grace Hightower, he ensured an ironclad prenup was in place first — well, sort of. Wealth Advisor claims the couple had already married, split, and reunited before signing a prenup. As part of the deal, De Niro reportedly agreed to buy Hightower out of their shared home, buy her a six million dollar pad in Manhattan and give her a princely sum annually. It was also allegedly agreed that she would get half of everything De Niro earned while they were together. Ouch.

Only when he split from Hightower in 2018 did the 79-year-old realize how much the prenup odds were stacked against him. According to Insider, De Niro's attorneys have been attempting to overturn parts of the original deal, claiming he's forced to work nonstop and must "accept every role he is offered regardless of artistic quality" to be able to pay for Hightower's alleged "luxury lifestyle."

Meanwhile, De Niro quietly welcomed his seventh child in May, and diapers aren't cheap these days. So, why does he still have to fund his ex's costly consumer habits? Well, Robert De Niro should ask for a refund from his original attorneys because his prenup with ex-wife Grace Hightower included an ironclad detail that's costing him serious bank.

When Robert De Niro reunited with his second wife, Grace Hightower, he believed he'd protected his financial assets with an ironclad prenup. However, De Niro had a nasty awakening after they split. Page Six reports that the prenup they negotiated definitely didn't work in De Niro's favor. In fact, it makes you wonder if he even actually read the document before signing.

In 2021, the actor attempted to renegotiate the contract. In one clause, he agreed to pay Hightower $1 million yearly until death do they part — or until one of them remarries. De Niro's attorney argued that the annual prenup payment was conditional on her client making $15 million yearly. She claimed COVID-19 had severely impacted his finances and that De Niro would "be lucky if he makes $7.5 million this year."

"When does he get the opportunity to not take every project that comes along and not work six-day weeks, 12-hour days so he can keep pace with Ms. Hightower's thirst for Stella McCartney?" De Niro's attorney pleaded to the judge while responding to Hightower's request for an "emergency order" demanding that her American Express card limit be increased from $50,000 to $100,000 monthly. Now that the father-of-seven has another mouth to feed, courtesy of De Niro's girlfriend, Tiffany Chen — he needs every cent he can get. Because it's hard out here for a new dad, especially one who's nearly an octogenarian.

Robert De Niro's battling Grace Hightower over the $1 million annual payment they agreed on in their prenup. Fox News reports that Judge Matthew Cooper did a legalese eye roll during an appellate court hearing, stating that whatever happens, both "will still come out of this richer than almost any human being who walks this Earth."

So, De Niro's all out of luck with his prenup fight. However, at least it's all rosy on the family front. During a press junket with ET Canada, he casually announced that he'd welcomed another baby after correcting the interviewer mid-sitdown that he's now a dad of seven, not six as they stated. And it's good that De Niro has plenty of baby experience because he'll become an Octodad when he turns 80 in August, per Britannica — which is exhausting just to think about.

The LA Times reports that CBS host Gayle King was not best pleased to have missed De Niro's baby scoop, as she'd interviewed the actor a week prior. However, she used her crafty wiles to get De Niro to unveil the first photo of his newborn daughter during an interview that will air on May 23. According to King, he and Tiffany Chen welcomed Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro on April 6. They are "over the moon" by her arrival. Not surprisingly, Chen, 45, had been pushing to get pregnant, but by all accounts, De Niro was more than willing to oblige.