Robert de niro gay dad

In some of the passages, De Niro Sr. describes being gay as a sort of "affliction." The actor says his father's views came from the time he was raised in and his upbringing in a small town in upstate New York.

Although De Niro Sr. lived openly as a gay man in his later years, the actor says it's time to share the full story of his father's life with a wider audience.

"That's the whole point --- the truth," De Niro explained, "That's what people are attracted to.

De Niro's father, an abstract expressionist painter, struggled in the 1960s with the rise of more modern artists like Andy Warhol, and at one point found himself homeless on the streets of Paris.

The "Grudge Match" star and Tribeca Film Festival co-founder serves as the narrator of the new documentary, "Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro Sr.," which attempts to shine a new light on the painter's work.

In the film, De Niro reads journal entries written by his late dad, who died from cancer in 1993 at 71.

I wish we had spoken about it much more. My mother didn't want to talk about things in general, and you're not interested when you're a certain age."

It's those journals that gave De Niro a deeper understanding of his father's day-to-day personal struggles with his mental health and his sexuality, per The Guardian. “You can’t hide anything.

“It was my responsibility to make a documentary about him. "I wasn't with him a lot, because my mother and he were separated and divorced. He detailed in his book, Things I Wish I’d Known:Reflections on a Life, how he continually struggled with his complicated life and his desire for acceptance.

Recently, his son,  De Niro Jr.

who is an actor has come out to speak about his relationship with his late dad, especially how he was unaware of what his dad was going through during his childhood.

Robert De Niro Jr. says he was unaware of his father’s sexuality

Deniro Jr. revealed that during his childhood, he was not privy to any information about his father’s inner life.

“If you’re going to do something, you have to do it all the way,” the 79-year-old further revealed. My mother didn't want to talk about things in general, and you're not interested when you're a certain age."

Robert added that although he didn't spend a lot of time with his father, they were close.

"We were not the type of father and son who played baseball together, as you can surmise.