Robert De Niro speaks out about his father, a gay personality

The Godfather star Robert De Niro doesn’t prefer to talk about his family much. Ahead of the television premiere of the documentary about his father, Remembering the Artist Robert De Niro Sr., the veteran actor talked about his gay father in an interview with a leading international magazine.

The Oscar winner described his father as "always a great artist”. He also said, "Yeah, he probably was [conflicted about being gay], being from that generation, especially from a small town upstate.” He added, "I was not aware, much, of it. 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." The 70-year-old actor, who lost his father 20 years ago due to cancer, confessed that this issue makes him really emotional, "We were not the type of father and son who played baseball together, as you can surmise. But we had a connection.” He stated further, "I wasn't with him a lot, because my mother and he were separated and divorced. As I say in the documentary, I looked after him in certain ways.” He also said, "I haven’t even read all the diaries -- I started. I read the ones for the film, but I haven’t read all the other material. I will, of course." Remembering the Artist Robert De Niro Sr. will have its premiere on HBO on June 9.