Robert De Niro shared “love and support” for his daughter Airyn after she came out as transgender on Tuesday.
“I loved and supported Aaron as my son, and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter,” the two-time Oscar winner told TMZ Wednesday.
The “Zero Day” star added, “I don’t know what the big deal is…I love all my children.”
Airyn, 29, who De Niro shares with ex Toukie Smith, made the reveal during a recent interview.
“I think a big part of [my transition] is also the influence black women have had on me,” she told LGBTQIA+ publication Them.
“I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way.”
According to the outlet, Airyn, a self-proclaimed “late bloomer,” felt emboldened after seeing other trans women speak out about their transitions.
“Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success… I’m like, you know what? Maybe it’s not too late for me,” she told the outlet.
“Maybe I can start.”
Airyn said she started hormone therapy in November 2024. She initially came out as a gay man while in high school, and said her famous family accepted her “queerness.”
Still, she worried about fitting in.
“I sort of stood out like a sore thumb, and there wasn’t anybody in my family that could relate to that experience,” she said.
“I was always told I was too much of something or not enough of something growing up: too big, not skinny enough. Not black enough, not white enough. Too feminine, not masculine enough,” she said.
She divulged to the outlet that she’s pursuing a career in acting and modeling, like her mother.
“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,” she explained.
“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.”
De Niro, 81, is a father of seven children — from four separate relationships — between the ages of 53 and 2.
He shares his youngest child, daughter Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro, with girlfriend Tiffany Chen.
