Before actress Diahnne Abbott got with Robert De Niro, she had a daughter named Drena with her husband on September 3, 1971. Diahnne's marriage ended in divorce, but 1976 proved to be a great year for her; she married De Niro, was featured in her first film, "Taxi Driver," and her new husband adopted Drena, who never knew her biological father and was happy to take De Niro's last name. They were a happy family until 1988 when Abbott and De Niro divorced, but Drena stayed close to the actor nonetheless.
Drena welcomed a son in 2003, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, with her boyfriend at the time, artist Carlos Rodriguez. The couple split, but Drena seems close with her son, who appeared in her Instagram post on Mother's Day.
As De Niro's adopted daughter, Drena practically grew up in the movie industry. In a since-deleted interview with Avenue magazine, she described the time she spent in Italy when De Niro was filming "The Godfather II." She remarked, "They were very happy years in my life. There was a lot of traveling, and, for a young kid, it definitely implanted a comfort and a love of travel." And there's no denying that it was De Niro who helped her when she decided to break into acting herself in 1996, as she told People in a 2002 interview, "In my family, it would have been stranger if I had said I wanted to go to med school."
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