Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner‘s son Nick Reiner told a story about stealing money from them to pay to lose his virginity to a sex worker — years before he was arrested for the murder of his parents.
In a resurfaced 2017 episode of the “Dopey” podcast, Nick, 32, recalled losing his virginity at 15, saying, “I was just looking at the different [Craigslist] profiles, and this one [was] just an ass shot. That’s the only thing that was her profile picture — and it had a number. I called her and some kid that I met at outpatient rehab told me you could do this. That’s how I knew how to do it.”
Nick contacted the woman over the phone.
“I think I was watching Tom and Jerry or something and I went over to my computer and got this woman’s number. I called her up when I was about 14 or something and her going rate was about $200. This is the part of the story that I don’t usually tell, but I’ll tell it anyways,” he continued. “I got $200 from my parents.”
During the interview, Nick said he stole the money from his parents, adding, “I didn’t say, ‘Hey, look, I’m going to be with a [sex worker] tonight. Do you think you have an extra $200?’ It was also like 1 a.m. … She comes over. I didn’t know how it worked, so I tried to kiss her.
She didn’t want that.”
Nick didn’t find the unnamed woman to be a “good-looking chick.”
“I didn’t care because I was young and I was like, ‘This is awesome.’ [I lasted] 15 seconds. I kind of felt like s*** but I was like, ‘That’s awesome,’” he noted. “Then I realized I had more money on me and I called her back. She came for a second time.”
He concluded: “I never asked her name and I never really got into any specifics of anything. But somewhere along the way when I used to tell this, someone dubbed her as Cherry Red, so that’s what I go by as Cherry Red. [I ate] a pot brownie and I was extremely blazed. But I still would have done it if I was sober. [The second time I lasted] 30 seconds.”
Nick often phoned into the “Dopey” podcast to discuss the highs and lows of his sobriety journey. He started to struggle with drug use as a teenager, leading to his first rehab stint at age 15. After several relapses and treatment stints, Nick ended up homeless after refusing help from his parents.
“I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas,” Nick told People in 2016. “I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun. If I wanted to do it my way and not go to the programs they were suggesting, then I had to be homeless.”
Nick went through 17 visits to rehab before he was able to get clean.
“That made me who I am now, having to deal with that stuff,” he told the outlet. “I met crazy great people there, so out of my element. Now, I’ve been home for a really long time, and I’ve sort of gotten acclimated back to being in L.A. and being around my family.”
The experience inspired Nick’s 2015 film, Being Charlie, which he cowrote while his father directed the project. Cary Elwes played the father and Nick Robinson portrayed the son in the autobiographical film.
“The whole process for me, I can just speak for myself, it did make me understand him a lot more, and I think it made me a better father,” Rob, aged 78, mentioned at a Build Series event in 2016. “Hopefully it did. I don’t know.”
Nick, however, chose not to respond to a question at a 2016 event about the status of his relationship with Rob. “Sometimes it would get overwhelming for me. I really wasn’t sure I wanted to do this,” he admitted.
Rob acknowledged that there “were disagreements” between them. ”At times it was really rough [working on the film],” he recalled.
After getting clean, Nick revealed on the “Dopey” podcast over the years that he had relapsed before trying to get sober again. He was arrested on Monday, December 15, after Rob and Michele, aged 68, were found dead “from apparent stab wounds” in their Los Angeles home.
The couple, who got married in 1989, shared three children: Jake, Nick and Romy. (Rob also adopted ex-wife Penny Marshall’s daughter, Tracy.) Before Rob and Michele’s deaths, they had a public argument with Nick at Conan O’Brien‘s Christmas party on Saturday, December 13.
A source exclusively told Us Weekly that Nick allegedly acted “creepily” at the celebration and asked people “if they were famous” before leaving. He is currently being held without bail as authorities continue to investigate the homicide.
