New details about the mindset of Rob Reiner’s son and suspected killer Nick Reiner suggest that the 32-year-old felt pessimistic about making his own mark on the entertainment industry.
Nick Reiner, who is being held without bail for the murder of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, felt “immense pressure” to live up to his famous father’s film industry legacy, according to his friend and podcast host Dave Manheim. The couple was found deceased at their Brentwood home on Sunday by their daughter, Romy, 28.
According to TMZ, Nick Reiner’s hotel room was discovered by authorities to be covered in blood on the same day his parents were found with fatal knife wounds.
Manheim told The Hollywood Reporter that he interviewed Nick Reiner several times on his series The Dopey Podcast: Addiction, Recovery & Dumb Sh#t, because “he was young and smart and handsome and new in recovery,” and “because I was such a fan of Rob Reiner.”
It was that last detail that led the younger Reiner to ultimately cut contact with Manheim, who tried to get him to convince his father to come on the show.
Before Reiner cut ties, he seemed frustrated with getting his creative projects off the ground, Manheim recalled, and living up to his famous lineage, which, aside from his father, included a successful photographer mother and his comedy legend grandfather Carl Reiner.
“I think big-picture, when you’re up against Rob Reiner and Carl Reiner, and you’re a struggling drug addict, the pressure is immense because how accomplished is anybody at age 24?” Manheim told the publication.
“In the little picture, when he was actually making things—when he wrote Being Charlie, or he had an idea—I think he was just another person with an idea,” Manheim explained. “I wish I hadn’t asked him to have Rob Reiner come on the show, or at least not when I did, because it pushed him away.”
Manheim described Reiner as having a “young love of life” and “hopefulness,” despite his struggles with addiction. “He wanted to have fun in recovery, and he wanted to be a successful entertainment writer.”
As a former addict himself, Manheim said he has a hunch that Reiner wasn’t really committed to recovery.
“This is probably not a fair thing to say, but I’ll say it: If he was pursuing serious recovery, I think he would have been more apt to contribute to the show as time went on because that’s something people in recovery want to do. They want to preserve friendships and carry the message and all those things,” Manheim said. “I don’t remember that he was particularly interested in 12-step work.”
Reiner’s father was under a very different impression just three months before the killings. In September, he gushed about his son being six years sober, telling NPR, “He’s been great” and “hasn’t been doing drugs for over six years.” He added, “He’s in a really good place.”
