LOS ANGELES — Rob Reiner’s drug-addicted son Nick hacked his beloved director dad and mom Michele to death after a massive blow-up at Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party Saturday — where the nepo baby “freaked out” everyone and left Reiner terrified of what he would do next, pals said.
The trio reportedly ended up in a “very loud argument’’ — possibly because Nick was back on drugs and
“Nick was freaking everyone out, acting crazy, kept asking people if they were famous,’’ a source told People magazine.
Nick Reiner was reportedly acting erratically at O’Brien’s Christmas party on Saturday before the murders. BACKGRID
The embarrassingly bitter blowout occurred fewer than 24 hours before ne’re-do-well Nick allegedly fatally slit his parents’ throats and stabbed them multiple times in the family’s Los Angeles mansion.
“They had had an argument at Conan’s holiday party, and Rob had been telling people that they’re scared for Nick and scared that his mental state was deteriorating,’’ a lifelong family friend who lives near the Reiner home told The Post.
“Nick was supposedly off drugs,” but then talk surfaced that he was “not so much off them,’’ the neighbor said, explaining that at the accused killer son’s lowest point over the years, he was “badly addicted to a combo of opiates and heroin.”
Another friend of the family said, “I know [the parents] wanted him to get help, go to rehab, but he wanted to get help while at home — he did not want to get treatment at a facility.
Rob Reiner with Michele, Romy, Nick and Jake in March 2015. michelereiner/Instagram
“And I know they have argued about that for years.’’
Rob, 78 — a beloved Hollywood legend famed for everything from his acting role as Michael “Meathead” Stivic in the TV classic “All in the Family’’ to directing big-screen cult classics such as “Stand by Me’’ and “The Princess Bride’’ — quickly left the O’Brien get-together with his photographer wife Michele, 68, after the fight, TMZ said.
The showdown occurred a few months after another big public argument between the dad and Nick.
Nick began screaming at his father in front of other diners at the posh Giorgio Baldi restaurant in Santa Monica Canyon, a worker there confirmed to The Post.
Nick’s sister Romy, a 28-year-old magazine writer and aspiring actress, reportedly found their parents’ bodies around 3:40 p.m. Sunday.
She told investigators at the time that her brother “should be a suspect’’ because he is “dangerous,’’ sources said — and Nick was nabbed hours later and charged with the murders.
Rob Reiner and Nick Reiner attend AOL Build Speaker Series at AOL Studios In New York on May 4, 2016 in New York City. FilmMagic
He was being held without bail, reportedly on suicide watch.
Rob and Michele also had another son, Jake, 34, who worked as a TV reporter in Houston and hosted a podcast on the LA Dodgers.
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The famous dad, previously married to former sitcom star Penny Marshall, also adopted his ex’s daughter, Tracy Marshall Reiner.
“I came from the greatest family ever,” Tracy, 61, told NBC News on Monday. “I don’t know what to say. I’m in shock.”
Nick began screaming at his father in front of other diners at the posh Giorgio Baldi restaurant in Malibu a worker there confirmed to The Post. @michelereiner/Instagram
An unsmiling Nick last publicly appeared with his parents and siblings Jake and Romy when they all walked the red carpet Sept. 9 at the “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles.
The wayward son had been battling drug addiction for more than half his life, ending up broke and homeless, sleeping on the street at times, he said in interviews.
At one point, in 2015, he founded an environmental non-profit called “Save Malibu,” but it didn’t last a year.
Albert Brooks, Conan O’Brien and Rob Reiner at the HBO | Max Emmy Nominee Celebration held at NYA East on August 11, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Variety via Getty Images
“These poor people did everything to help this kid,’’ said the family friend who told The Post that Nick was balking about going back to a treatment facility.
Those futile efforts included Rob pulling out all the stops to help Nick produce the 2015 semi-autobiographical movie “Being Charlie’’ — including by using his own years of expertise to direct it and calling on Hollywood connections to pack the credits.
But his “spoiled” son was ungrateful, a cast member said.
The pair had at least one vicious argument in front of thecast and crew during filming, with them “just going off on each other,” stunt performer Erik Audé told Page Six. “You could tell [Nick] was spoiled and Rob was just sick of his s–t.
“I just assumed, whether this is correct or not, this kid must be pushing all his buttons,” Audé said. “Rob can’t do anything right.
“[Nick’s] s a nepo-baby, a spoiled kid to the tee.”
Any goodwill sown between the awkward father-son duo during the project could not overcome Nick’s long-standing simmering resentment toward his father, the son of equally famous late comic genius Carl Reiner.
The Reiners Brentwood home where Rob and Michele’s body’s were discovered. BACKGRID
“I think [Nick] really resented his dad — or maybe hated himself — for not being as talented, prolific or beloved as his dad or grandad,’’ a source told Page Six.
Two months before Rob’s death, the director was asked by interviewer Piers Morgan which of his films he wanted to be most remembered for.
“People have their favorites. They, you know, and the cliché, we love all our children, even the bad ones,” Rob said.
Nick’s resentment of his father apparently boiled over into something darker even before it took a deadly turn over the weekend.
Jake Reiner, Nick Reiner, Romy Reiner, Michele Singer Reiner and Rob Reiner attend Four Sixes Ranch Steakhouse pop-up grand opening on September 14, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Getty Images for Wynn Las Vegas
“This is not the first time their son has been violent,’’ the family friend said the day after the parents’ slayings.
“I know of another incident a few years back with Nick, but I won’t say more than that. I just never thought it would ever get to this point.
“It is such a nightmare.’’
Nick admitted in 2018 that he once trashed his parents’ home during a meth-fueled rage.
Actor/Producer/Director Rob Reiner (center) and wife Michele Singer (L) and son Nick Reiner (R) attend Teen Vogue’s Back-to-School Saturday kick-off event at The Grove on August 9, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images for Teen Vogue
“It’s not much of a story. I got totally spun out on uppers — I think it was coke and something else — and I was up for days on end,” Nick told the “Dopey’’ podcast. “I started punching out some things in my guest house.”
A former classmate of Nick’s told The Post on Monday that she “instantly knew’’ he was the suspect in his parents’ murders when she heard the news.
A security guard hired by the community to patrol the family’s ritzy Brentwood hood because of looting after the Palisades Fire in January told The Post that Nick had been living with his parents for at least the past year.
“You could tell something was a little off with him,’’ the worker, Trevor Taufahema, said of the son.
“He’s a strange individual, you know?”
Rob Reiner, Michele Reiner, Romy Reiner, Nick Reiner and family at the Bleecker Street’s “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” Los Angeles premiere at the Egyptian Theatre on Tuesday, September 9, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA. Todd Williamson/JanuaryImages / BACKGRID
The guard said Nick specifically had one friend he would invite to his parents’ multimillion-dollar home.
“I would meet him right here,’’ Taufahema said near the residence.
“I’m not sure who he was, but I’d always see [Nick] sneak off with him. I don’t know what they were doing.”
The Reiners’ murder stunned and shattered the country’s gilded movie-making community.
Kathy Bates, who starred in Reiner’s 1990 film “Misery” which won her an Oscar, told The Post, “I’m horrified hearing this terrible news. Absolutely devastated.”
Fellow director Ron Howard tweeted of Rob, “He proved to be a superlative filmmaker, a supportive colleague and at all times a dedicated citizen.’’
-Additional reporting by Jeremy Louwerse, Tamantha Ryan, Riley Cardoza, Bernie Zilio, Jared Downing, Leah Bitsky, Eric Todisco and Oli Coleman
