Michael Douglas and Rob Reiner apparently had a lot in common. A week following the Misery director and his wife Michele Singer Reiner’s passing, the Wall Street actor detailed the struggles the couple faced with their son Nick Reiner, who has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders.
“With this terrible tragedy,” Michael said on the December 21st CBS News: Rob Reiner Scenes From a Life special, “we’re realizing how much pressure he was dealing with in his personal life with his son.”
Michael Douglas talks about Rob Reiner
The 81-year-old noted that like Nick, his son Cameron Douglas, 47, who he shares with ex-wife Diandra Luker, struggled with drugs, and that he and Rob had discussed their shared experience.
“I also had a son who had had drug issues,” Michael—also dad to Dylan Douglas, 24, and Carys Douglas, 22, with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones—explained.
“I’m happy to say he’s overcome them and living a prosperous life. We did talk a lot about that and what you can do as a parent, what you can’t do. Knowing with all of that going on behind the scenes, this was a man who always gave it his best.”
Another similarity the Oscar winner noted was that he and Rob both had legendary parents who helped to pave the way for them in show business. (Rob’s parents were comedian Carl Reiner and Estelle Reiner, while Michael’s parents were actor Kirk Douglas and Diana Douglas.)
“Well, my experience watching him was that I could never be the man that my father was,” Michael admitted of Kirk. “He can do everything. I mean, he was Spartacus. Once you go into the same business, it stares you in the face.”
The two first-degree murder charges he’s facing will hold a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. Nick will next appear in court on January 7th, 2026.
