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From Mafia Roles to Gender Rolls: De Niro’s Son Joins the Identity Circus

Robert De Niro’s 29-year-old son, Aaron — now going by Airyn — has officially joined the Hollywood trend of coming out as transgender, after starting hormone treatments in 2024.

Born via surrogate with De Niro’s ex-girlfriend, Toukie Smith, Airyn told Them magazine (yes, that’s a real publication name) that transitioning into womanhood was influenced in part by Black women. “Stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them,” Airyn said — because apparently gender is now a matter of cultural vibes

So…Black women are to blame for his identity crisis? Interesting.

De Niro and Smith, unsurprisingly, have been “supportive” of the transition. Airyn says they kept the kids out of the spotlight growing up — a rare Hollywood parenting win — but now seems eager to be in it, declaring that “being visible and being seen” are two different things. Deep.

Airyn added that the usual beauty standards and identity labels were hard to fit into growing up — not skinny enough, not Black enough, not white enough, not masculine enough, etc. (Welcome to the club, kid — that’s called being human.)

Now, with a fresh name and hormone treatments underway, Airyn hopes to be a beacon for others “struggling with identity.” Because what the world really needs right now is more identity confusion and less reality.

De Niro, a father of seven, including Airyn’s twin brother Julian, hasn’t publicly commented beyond general support. But given Hollywood’s track record, this announcement was probably more expected than shocking.

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