Airyn De Niro, the 29-year-old transgender daughter of Robert De Niro and Toukie Smith, has shared her transition journey. In a conversation with Them, De Niro described herself as a “late bloomer” who faced mockery about her weight while growing up.
Airyn also revealed that Halle Bailey’s performance as Ariel in The Little Mermaid remake inspired her to come out as transgender. Her parents, who never tied the knot, were together from 1988 to 1996. Airyn and her twin brother, Julian Henry De Niro, were conceived through in vitro fertilization and born via surrogate in 1995.
Tabloids began speculating about Airyn’s sexuality earlier this year, which caught the actress off guard since she wasn’t raised in the public eye.
“Obviously no parent is perfect, but I am grateful that both my parents agreed to keep me out of the limelight,” she told Them. “They wanted it very private. They have told me they wanted me to have as much of a normal childhood as possible.”
De Niro and Smith have always supported their daughter, who initially came out as a gay man in high school before transitioning. But Airyn remembered feeling physically different from her family members.
“I always grew up a bigger-bodied person,” she shared. “Everybody else in the family [was] relatively thin or fit; I was not, so I sort of stood out like a sore thumb and there wasn’t anybody in my family that could relate to that experience.”
Airyn started hormone replacement therapy last November after seeing other trans women thriving and wanting to be an inspiration for people like herself.
“Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success… I’m like, you know what? Maybe it’s not too late for me,” she said. “Maybe I can start.”
Airyn added, “I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Airyn mentioned auditioning for Jules Vaughn in Euphoria, a role that ultimately went to Hunter Schafer. Airyn now aims to expand perceptions of how transgender women of color can look.
“I want queer people of color and bigger-bodied people to have an Alex Consani. I want queer people of color and bigger-bodied people to have a Hunter Schafer,” she said. “A part of me has always wanted to model and sort of follow my mom’s footsteps. Honestly, if I could be on the cover of Vogue with her or recreating one of her pictures, that would be a dream come true.”
De Niro has seven children and two ex-wives, Diahnne Abbott and Grace Hightower. The two-time Oscar winner is currently in a relationship with Tiffany Chen.
