Filmmaker-actor Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead at their Los Angeles home at around 3:30 pm on Sunday, December 14. The couple's son, Nick Reiner, has been accused of killing them. Nick had previously spoken about his battle with drug addiction, revealing that he was sent to his first rehab facility around his 15th birthday.
When Nick Reiner Opened Up About His Battle With Drug Addiction
He later co-wrote the 2015 film Being Charlie, which was loosely based on his experiences with heroin addiction and homelessness and was directed by his father, Rob Reiner.
In the film, the lead character Charlie Mills (played by Nick Robinson) briefly faces homelessness, an experience Nick was far more familiar with. Speaking about this, he told PEOPLE in 2016, "I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas. I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun."
Nick Reiner Says He Refused To Back To Rehab
Further, Nick shared that he refused to go back to rehab and was in and out of shelters because he wanted to do things his own way rather than follow the programs they were suggesting. As a result, he ended up homeless.
After leaving his last rehab facility at 19, Nick stated that he had been working on the film Being Charlie, writing other projects, and trying to stay clean so that he would never have to return to the streets again.
"When I was out there, I could've died. It’s all luck. You roll the dice and you hope you make it," added Reiner.
'That Made Me Who I Am Now'
Nick stated that the experience proved valuable, not just in writing the film. "That made me who I am now, having to deal with that stuff. 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. But there was a lot of dark years there," he concluded.
