EXCLUSIVE: Robert De Niro's 'New Goodfellas' is 'Last Ditch Attempt for Him to Bank Millions Before He Dies' — As Lavish Lifestyle and Huge Family 'Drain his Fortune'
Robert De Niro is feared to be working himself to death just to pay bills.
Feb. 3 2025, Updated 11:24 a.m. ET
Robert De Niro is "desperate" to bank millions for his latest gangster movie role aged 81 as he continues to work himself into the grave just to pay his monster alimony bill.
The Goodfellas star also has a chain of nearly 20 hotels across the world with plans to open even more so happily takes any films and ads that come his way to fund his bank balance-busting lavish lifestyle, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
He pays ex-wife Grace Hightower $1million a year in alimony, plus he paid her $6 million to buy a new home and agreed to give her half of the proceeds of their $20million marital pad.
The movie icon is now with Tiffany Chen, 45, and they have a one-year-old daughter – his seventh child.
Martin Scorsese's frequent collaborator has huge family bills.
As he slugged it out in court with his ex, his lawyer said the Oscar winner takes "every project that comes along" in order to pay for his ex-wife’s "thirst for Stella McCartney" designer clothes and $1million diamond rings.
The embarrassing revelation came in the midst of his bitter US socialite Hightower after their 21-year marriage collapsed.
His lawyer Caroline Krauss said the costly divorce may explain why he went from The Godfather Part II and The Deer Hunter to The War With Grandpa and fronting an ad for British bread maker Warburtons.
She told a Manhattan judge: "While he loves his craft, he should not be forced to work at this prodigious pace because he has to. When does that stop?
Barry Levinson, the Oscar-winning director of 'Rain Man', has directed De Niro's latest gangster flick – as doubts rage about its quality.
"When does he get the opportunity to not take every project that comes along and not work six-day weeks, 12-hour days, so he can keep pace with Ms Hightower's thirst for Stella McCartney?"
And while he'll bank another fortune for this latest role, playing two warring gangsters in The Alto Knights, movie buffs are predicting the flick is going to be a $110million box office flop.
One film critic wrote: "On paper, the forthcoming gangster picture The Alto Knights has all the elements of a success. It stars Robert De Niro, currently on a hot streak after back-to-back successful collaborations with Martin Scorsese, with The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon.
"It's directed by Barry Levinson, who may have been quiet for a few years, but has made some of the best American films of the past few decades, including the similarly themed Bugsy and Oscar-winning Rain Man. And the script is by Nicholas Pileggi – another Scorsese veteran who wrote the screenplays for Goodfellas and Casino – as well as contributing to the likes of American Gangster and The Irishman.
'Goodfellas' writer Nicholas Pileggi penned the script for De Niro's latest effort, but test audiences weren't impressed with the actor's dual role in the flick.
"In other words, it should be a hit. But the runes have already declared that The Alto Knights will flop. Why?"
The film chronicles the antagonistic relationship between two 1950s mob bosses, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello.
They were heads of rival New York crime families – the Genovese and Luciano operations – and were both known for maintaining their power through the ruthless dispatch of their enemies.
But showbiz insiders say the film will struggle to recoup its monster budget after early test screenings found that viewers didn't warm to 81-year-old De Niro playing both leads.
Tiffany Chen and their young daughter enjoy the spoils of De Niro's success, while his ex Grace Hightower still collects $1million a year from him.
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One viewer said in their feedback: "It was one of the worst films I had ever seen tested, and a huge letdown given the pedigree."
The De Niro double-act, meanwhile is said to "result in a movie where the two main characters can only interact while sitting perfectly still across from one another on opposite ends of a table," according to the disappointed movie fan.
The film’s initial release date of November 2024 – a prime period for adult-oriented cinema fare – was canned and replaced by a new date of March 2025.
