Why Nick Reiner struggled with drugs and mental health issues before his arrest

Twenty minutes into Rob Reiner’s video podcast promoting his new film, a semi-autobiographical story about a famous father and his drug-addicted son, the interviewer asked his son Nick (who co-wrote the film) what he had learned from it.

Reiner pointed off the screen. Nick, then 22, was always there.

“He’s right here. You can ask him,” Renner said in a 2016 interview with comedian Paul Mecurio about the movie “Being Charlie.”

“Oh, that’s your son!” Mercurio said in surprise, inviting the lean young man in thick black glasses to join in a discussion about “Being Charlie,” based on Nick’s experiences as a teenager in and out of rehab.

At times, Nick was quiet and seemed uncomfortable, letting his father do the talking most of the time. But when asked why he started taking drugs in the first place, he blamed the fame of his father and grandfather, famed director and comedian Carl Reiner.

“I had no identity and no passion,” Nick said. “I think the reason I didn’t have an identity was because I had a famous father and a famous grandpa, and that fame kind of tells who you are. So, I wanted to replace my own identity with a more rebellious, angry, drug-addicted character.”

On Sunday night, Los Angeles police arrested Nick Reiner, 32, on suspicion of murdering his 78-year-old father and mother, photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner, 70. The couple were found dead in their Brentwood home on Sunday afternoon.

Family friends told The Times that Nick had been staying in a hotel on his parents’ property and that his mother had become increasingly concerned about his mental health in recent weeks.

Friends also say Rob Reiner and his son got into an argument at a party at Conan O’Brien’s house on Saturday night, where people noticed Nick was acting strangely. Family friends who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Reiners’ daughter, Romi, found her parents at their Chadbourne Avenue home on Sunday afternoon.

Law enforcement sources told The Times there were no signs of forced entry and the Lehners’ injuries were consistent with stab wounds. Nick Renner is being held without bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s inmate records.

Nick Reiner was born in 1993, the second of three children of Rob Reiner and Michele. Nick Reiner married Michele in 1989, after meeting him on the set of his beloved romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally.”

When Rob Reiner was interviewed by a Times columnist at lunch in 1998, Nick, then 5, was writhing on the table, and his father quipped, “He’s a wimp. He’s always moving around. He’s born that way. When he came out, the doctor said, ‘This is a squirmy.'”

Soon, the columnist noted, “Nick’s photographer mom, Michelle… arrived and scooped him up.”

Nick said in interviews that when he was younger, he and his father were quieter at home than in public and didn’t form much of a bond.

In a 2016 interview with Mecurio, Nick said he was listless, “I had nothing to fill my time. I had nothing to look forward to.”

As a teenager, Nick battled heroin addiction, cycled in and out of rehab, and experienced periods of homelessness.

In 2015, he co-wrote “Being Charlie,” a book about a drug-addicted young man whose father, a ruthless former movie star, is running for governor of California. His father directed the film and co-wrote it with Matt Elisofon.

During press tours for the film, Nick, who often sat quietly listening to his father speak, said many aspects of the film were inspired by their relationship, including a line the father character tells his son: “I’d rather you hate me but you’re alive.”

He said in an interview with Mercurio that after starring in the film, it was difficult to see the public slam him as “a spoiled white rich kid.”

At this point, Rob interjected: “Look, I have to talk to him about this. Look, I know what it’s like to be ‘someone’s son’ and have people make certain assumptions about you, and it’s very, very difficult.”

Publicly, Nick praised his parents for helping him regain his sobriety. But he also said he felt guilty for letting them down and was trying to figure out his own path.

Rob said working on the film with his son was therapeutic, allowing them to work through past trauma and build a closer relationship.

In an interview with The Times in 2015 at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the film premiered, Rob said he regretted putting the advice of counselors over his son’s voice as he and his wife tried to continue Nick’s recovery.

“When Nick tells us it doesn’t work for him, we don’t listen,” he said. “We’re desperate because people have diplomas hanging on their walls, so when we should be listening to our sons, we’re listening to them.”

Michel added: “We are deeply influenced by these people. They will tell us that he is a liar and that he is trying to manipulate us. We believe them.”

After the couple’s deaths, a family friend said Rob and Michelle “did everything for Nick. Every treatment plan, therapy session, putting their own lives on hold to save Nick’s life.” The friend said they had “never seen a family so dedicated to one child” and that “it was horrific to have it end this way.”

In the pivotal 1970s sitcom “All in the Family,” Rob Reiner played Michael “Meathead” Stivic, a liberal young man who frequently clashed with his staunchly conservative, bigoted father-in-law, Archie Bunker (played by Carroll O’Connor).

A 1977 episode of “Archie’s Bitter Pill” dealt with drug addiction, with Archie becoming addicted to drugs while dealing with depression caused by poor business at his new bar.

One morning, when Archie began to act irritable and erratic, shoving pancakes into his pockets before rushing off to work, Michael solemnly declared, “That man is on to something.”

The public knows very little about Nick’s life in the decade since “Being Charlie” premiered. According to IMDb, he has yet to appear in other film productions.

In September, Nick appeared with his family at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood for the premiere of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, directed by his father.

In August 2018, Nick was interviewed back on “Dopey,” a podcast about addiction and recovery, in which he described his experience vandalizing his parents’ hotel.

“I got completely into it – I think it was Coke and stuff – I stayed up for days and I started working on different things in my hotel,” including a television, he said.

He said the incident happened when his parents told him he had to go out to rehab.

Nick said in that interview that he “smoked a little bit of marijuana and took a little bit of Adderall.” He said he smoked marijuana “as a precautionary measure” to stop himself from using drugs and that he wasn’t very productive at work.

But about a year ago, he said, he “went back to drugs and stuff” and “ended up having a heart attack from cocaine” on a plane.

The host told him: “I also hope that you will try recovery again sometime, and then you can call and say how great your life is.”

Times staff writers Suhauna Hussain, Alexandra Del Rosario and Grace Toohey contributed to this report.