Dick Van Dyke‘s wife, Arlene Silver, detailed how Rob Reiner’s death profoundly impacted her husband.
Silver, 54, shared a video via Instagram on Monday, December 15, that discussed how early reports of Rob and wife Michele Reiner’s deaths at ages 78 and 68, respectively, on Sunday, December 14, kept Van Dyke, who turned 100 one day prior, awake.
“I want to celebrate Dick … but I also want to acknowledge this horrible thing,” Silver told fans. “Dick didn’t sleep last night because he wanted to stay up to just know … we didn’t know what happened. The first reports were, ‘Two people found in the house.’” (TMZ was first to report on an incident inside Rob and Michele’s Brentwood home, with the family confirming the couple’s deaths later that night.)
Silver, who has been married to Van Dyke since February 2012, also spoke about how she and Van Dyke recently spoke to the Reiners over the phone. “We talked to Rob two weeks ago on the phone. And Michele … I have so many messages for Dick’s birthday [and] Michele and Rob’s are in those messages,” Silver said. “Dick has known Rob since he was a teenager on The Dick Van Dyke Show and I’ve been a fan of his work before I knew him. Rob and Michele were always together like Dick and I. I always felt part of the Reiner family.”
Rob’s father, the late Carl Reiner, created The Dick Van Dyke Show, which premiered in 1961 and ran for five years.
Silver, a makeup artist who also works as an actress and producer, added that she felt mixed feelings about celebrating Van Dyke’s milestone birthday in the wake of the Reiners’ deaths. “Such a weird, wonderful, awful weekend,” Silver said in the clip. “I can’t not talk about this horrible thing. Dick’s birthday was so amazing, over-the-top beautiful. I was relieved and happy and all that and then this happened yesterday.”
Silver also commented on Rob and Michele’s son, Nick Reiner, who was charged with two counts of first-degree murder as a result of his parents’ death. “You know that they did everything for that kid,” Silver said. “I’d never met him but I met his [Rob’s] other kids and they loved their kids.”
She added later in the video, “I feel terrible for his family. He had a wonderful family.”
A report by the Los Angeles Times, published on Tuesday, December 16, stated that a representative from the Los Angeles Police Department claimed Rob and Michele died in their bedroom on Sunday night. The article said that the information was shared by Assistant Chief Dominic Choi at a weekly LAPD meeting, and that “the couple’s bodies were found in the bedroom of their Brentwood home.”
Us Weekly confirmed that Nick, 32, was arrested on suspicion of murder without bail on Monday, December 15. The LAPD said in a press conference at the time that Rob and Michele suffered apparent stab wounds and the matter was being investigated as a homicide.
Los Angeles district attorney Nathan Hochman said in a press conference on Tuesday that Nick will be arraigned after undergoing medical clearance. He is facing life in prison without parole, or the death penalty.
