Michael Douglas could relate to the “pressure” Rob Reiner felt as a parent with a son battling addiction.
The actor told CBS News that his struggles with his son, Cameron Douglas, allowed him connect with Reiner about his son, Nick, 32. Reiner, 78, and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, 70, were found murdered at their California home on Dec. 14.
Nick was apprehended as the prime suspect shortly after. “With this terrible tragedy, we’re realizing how much pressure he was dealing with in his personal life with his son,” Douglas, 81, told CBS.
“I also had a son who had had drug issues. I’m happy to say he’s overcome them and living a prosperous life,” he added of Cameron, 47. Douglas said that he and Reiner would “talk a lot about that and what you can do as a parent, what you can’t do.”
Reiner directed Douglas in 1995’s The American President and 2014’s And So It Goes.
Douglas sat down to talk about the late director and his impact on the network’s Rob Reiner—Scenes from a Life special, which also included interviews with Kathy Bates, Annette Bening, Albert Brooks, Michael Douglas, Jerry O’Connell, Mandy Patinkin, and Kiefer Sutherland.
Douglas’ son Cameron has long battled addiction and served nearly seven years in prison on drug charges related to heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine. He was released in 2016. Douglas concluded, regarding his late friend’s battle, “Knowing with all of that going on behind the scenes, this was a man who always gave it his best.”
Nick Reiner’s “anti-social behavior,” as sources have described it, was on full display when he attended a Christmas party with his parents, thrown by Conan O’Brien the night before their murder.
According to onlookers, the younger Reiner was seen making some famous partygoers uncomfortable with invasive questions. Some sources claim he got into “a loud argument” with his parents. They were found dead by knife wounds the following day, as discovered by their youngest daughter Romy, 28. Nick Reiner’s hotel room was reportedly covered in blood the night of their murder.
Since his arrest, TMZ has reported that Nick Reiner also struggled with schizophrenia in addition to his drug addiction, and had a medication change just weeks before his parents’ deaths. Sources told the site his behavior had become more “erratic” with the change, and that his continued drug use likely exacerbated the situation.
Nick Reiner will remain behind bars without bail until he is arraigned on January 7. He was last seen publicly at his hearing last week wearing a suicide prevention smock.
