Conan O’Brien spoke out about Rob and Michele Reiner’s final night at his home—hours before their shocking murders.
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker, 78, and his photographer wife, 78, spent their last hours alive at O’Brien’s hotly anticipated annual Christmas shindig, and brought their son Nick along—reportedly to “keep an eye” on him.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the legendary late-night host—who will be emceeing the Oscars this weekend for the second year in a row—spoke about the experience of having his name tied to the Reiners’ tragic deaths.
When asked how he and Liza, his wife of nearly 25 years, “have processed their association with something so brutal,” O’Brien didn’t mince words.
“Very simply, we had a party, we invited our really good friends and then, the next day, this terrible thing happened,” the six-time Emmy winner replied. “Whatever difficulties my wife and I have experienced having our name attached to it are nothing compared to the scale of the tragedy for the family and the loss of Rob and Michele.
“If you’re a known person, your name is going to get dragged into things sometimes, but it is not a hardship,” he continued. “There is only sadness that they’re gone.”
According to earlier reporting, the Reiners got into a “very loud argument” with their son at the party, which took place on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, with guests alleging the 32-year-old “was freaking everyone out, acting crazy, [and] kept asking people if they were famous.”
Eventually, Nick was reportedly asked to leave the event, and the bodies of Rob and Michele were discovered at their Brentwood mansion less than 24 hours later.
At the time of the killings, Reiner was living in a guesthouse on his parents’ property.
Nick reportedly checked into The Pierside hotel in Santa Monica at around 4 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14—nearly 12 hours before the grisly discovery of his parents’ bodies. TMZ cited eyewitnesses who said he appeared “tweaked out,” but saw no signs of blood or injuries on him when he arrived. He was taken into police custody at 9:15 p.m. that night.
Reiner, 32, pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in February. The charges come after years of struggles with substance abuse, mental health issues, and a more recent diagnosis of schizophrenia.
O’Brien broke his silence about the Reiners’ final night in an interview with The New Yorker Radio Hour last month. He said he and his wife had gotten “closer and closer” to the couple recently and that they “were seeing them a lot.”
“To have that experience of saying goodnight to somebody and having them leave and then find out the next day that they’re gone… I think I was in shock for quite a while afterwards,” O’Brien admitted. ”It’s just so awful.”
The Reiners were Hollywood fixtures for decades.
Rob, the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, first rose to fame playing Michael “Meathead” Stivic on Norman Lear’s beloved sitcom All in the Family. He moved behind the camera with This Is Spinal Tap and went on to direct such hits as Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally..., Misery, and A Few Good Men. Michele was a renowned photographer who famously shot the cover photo for Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal.
As notable as their careers were, the Reiners were equally known for their activism and close ties to Democratic causes.
“I think about how Rob felt about things that are happening in the country, how involved he was, how much he put himself out there—and to have that voice go quiet in an instant is still hard for me to comprehend‚” O’Brien said in February.
The criminal case against Nick is ongoing following the surprise departure of famed defense lawyer Alan Jackson, who stopped representing Reiner in January.
Reiner is currently being held in custody. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 29.
