Robert de niro gay dad

In some of the passages, De Niro Sr. describes being gay as a sort of "affliction." The actor says his father's views came from the time he was raised in and his upbringing in a small town in upstate New York.

Although De Niro Sr. lived openly as a gay man in his later years, the actor says it's time to share the full story of his father's life with a wider audience.

"That's the whole point --- the truth," De Niro explained, "That's what people are attracted to.

Having lived at a time when homosexuality was not widely accepted, the artist was never keen to reveal himself all through his lifetime. “It was my responsibility to make a documentary about him. However, as popular as he was, he battled with his sexuality because he was gay. As I say in the documentary, I looked after him in certain ways.

Robert De Niro shared fond childhood memories of his father whom he describes as "a great artist"

"He was absent in some ways.

I felt obligated," Robert said of the film, titled Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro Sr. I should have done this 10 years earlier, but I’m glad I did it now.”

Robert De Niro has kept his father’s studio intact

In a bid to preserve his father’s memories, the actor ensured that he maintained his father’s art studio almost the same way the artist had left them, with half-finished canvases and paintbrushes.

De Niro Jr.

also claimed that he was tempted to let go of the studio. “If you’re going to do something, you have to do it all the way,” the 79-year-old further revealed. De Niro's father, an abstract expressionist painter, struggled in the 1960s with the rise of more modern artists like Andy Warhol, and at one point found himself homeless on the streets of Paris.

The "Grudge Match" star and Tribeca Film Festival co-founder serves as the narrator of the new documentary, "Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro Sr.," which attempts to shine a new light on the painter's work.

In the film, De Niro reads journal entries written by his late dad, who died from cancer in 1993 at 71.

"In the documentary, the actor also discusses his father's sexuality."

Yeah, he probably was (conflicted about being gay), especially from a small town upstate," the 70-year-old told the magazine.

Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr. airs on HBO 9 June

"I was not aware, much, of it.

He also further claimed that he only got a hint after his mom gave him the revelation, “I wish we had spoken about it much more. He said, "I was not aware, much, of it. "I wasn't with him a lot, because my mother and he were separated and divorced. My mother didn’t want to talk about things in general, and you’re not interested when you’re a certain age.”

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He however detailed that he wants his children to ask questions and address life issues as they come instead of postponing them.

“I videotaped it and had photos taken and documented everything. "It was the only way to keep his being, his existence alive," Robert explained.