# Robert DeNiro and black women **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896 "2006-07-24T23:57:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/1 "2006-07-24T23:57:53Z")
Actor Robert DeNiro has a reputation for having relationships with black women. But how true is this? I know his current wife is black and I know he had a child with another black woman. But has he had other black women in his life besides these two women? Was his first wife black? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/2 "2006-07-25T01:07:58Z")
I knew he’s had a thing for _one_ black woman: model Toukie Smith, a long-term girlfriend and sister of the late fashion designer Willi Smith. I’d never really heard of him being with other black women, though. Turns out I am wrong. Both his first wife Diahnne Abbott, and his second wife, Grace Hightower. Any time the mothers of all yiur kids are black, and you’re not, and you married two of them, I’d say, yeah, he definitely has a thing for African-American women. For years I thought the interracial love story subplot in “A Bronx Tale” was at least partly autobiographical and based on DeNiro’s teenage life. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/3 "2006-07-25T01:11:54Z")
I figured if it was just two it might be a coincidence. But three’s starting to shape into a trend. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/4 "2006-07-25T01:46:12Z")
Hey, good for him! It seems(to me anyway) you see a lot of white men who love Asian women, but never white men who find Black women especialy attractive. Why not? I’m amazed by men who not only have good luck with any ladies, but can actually have good luck with one specific race! How’s he do that? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/5 "2006-07-25T01:54:10Z")
-smile- How can one even **write** this sentence without getting into a bucketful of trouble? Ahhh, I do love black women. Also asian women and white women. So there. I was quite aflame for a black gal when I was in high school. ( I’m as whiteboy as they come). -sniffle- It didn’t last, but oh god. Oooooh, Bonnie. Wherefore art thou, Bonnie? I dunno why, **Mahaloth**. Racism? Trouble wrapping one’s head around a woman/person who seems so different than one’s self? I’d read this about DeNiro. Didn’t mean as much to me as the fact that he gained and lost alla that weight for **Raging Bull**. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/6 "2006-07-25T02:21:38Z")
For his part, DeNiro does little to dispel this conception onscreen. Along with the aforementioned _Bronx Tale_, he also was paired with Angela Bassett in _The Score_. I seem to recall him making jokes about his relationships on TV (SNL?). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/7 "2006-07-25T02:28:25Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > I knew he’s had a thing for _one_ black woman: model Toukie Smith, a long-term girlfriend and sister of the late fashion designer Willi Smith. I’d never really heard of him being with other black women, though. Turns out I am wrong. > > Both his first wife Diahnne Abbott, and his second wife, Grace Hightower. Any time the mothers of all yiur kids are black, and you’re not, and you married two of them, I’d say, yeah, he definitely has a thing for African-American women. > > For years I thought the interracial love story subplot in “A Bronx Tale” was at least partly autobiographical and based on DeNiro’s teenage life. Anything’s possible, but the movie was based on a one-man show, written and performed by Chazz Palmintieri, and Palmintieri says it was based largely on his own life. So I suspect the subplot had little to do with DeNiro. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/8 "2006-07-25T02:40:36Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > It seems(to me anyway) you see a lot of white men who love Asian women, but never white men who find Black women especialy attractive. Well, there’s me for one. Not that I’ve ever had much luck there, though my first real date in high school was with a black girl. In my area I seem to notice at least as many black woman/white guy couples as the other way around; probably more. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/9 "2006-07-25T03:23:35Z")
Well, we are all that and a bag of chips. Seriously, does anybody care when a white man marries two blonde women and has a baby with anther blonde woman? How about if a guy marries women of different colors with huge boobies? ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/10 "2006-07-25T03:49:54Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Well, we are all that and a bag of chips. > > Seriously, does anybody care when a white man marries two blonde women and has a baby with anther blonde woman? Well, I would care if the white man had the baby. That’d be damn interesting. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/11 "2006-07-25T04:03:29Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > How about if a guy marries women of different colors with huge boobies? If he married a woman with huge boobies of different colors, now _that_ would be worth commenting on. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/12 "2006-07-25T08:58:36Z")
He also dated Naomi Campbell back in the 90s. But I don’t think he exclusively dates black women. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/13 "2006-07-25T10:05:21Z")
I’d hit that. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/14 "2006-07-25T14:18:40Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Well, we are all that and a bag of chips. > > Seriously, does anybody care when a white man marries two blonde women and has a baby with anther blonde woman? How about if a guy marries women of different colors with huge boobies? I don’t think anybody _cares_ in the sense they think it’s a bad thing. Interracial dating and marriage is no big whoop these days, but it wasn’t that long ago that this wasn’t the case. DeNiro is from a generation where this tended to raise a few eyebrows. Coupled with the fact that he is pretty much world famous and has been for decades, I can see where this would be an interesting factoid to some people. Slight hijack: I once dated a guy (very, verrrrry white) whose four sisters were all either married to ,or had children by, black men. Did I _care_? No. It did strike me as odd, though. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/15 "2006-07-25T14:40:55Z")
For some reason, when I learn about a white guy’s attraction to black women, it makes him seem more appealing to _me_. Take David Bowie. He’s a strange looking dude, but if he invited me over for a little sum’n-sum’n, I wouldn’t say no. I’d be like, “Get out the bed, Iman. This is _my_ man!” Holla! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/16 "2006-07-25T15:21:20Z")
I have no issues with white men dating black women (or Asian women). I’m a white man who’s dated black women and Asian women. But when you see somebody, of any race or either gender, dating exclusively outside of their own race you have to start wondering if they’re dating individuals or dating the race. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/17 "2006-07-25T15:30:16Z")
Well, some men like blondes. Rod Stewart seems to exclusively hook up with blondes. DeNiro just finds a different kind of woman attractive. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/18 "2006-07-25T15:38:37Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > Well, some men like blondes. Rod Stewart seems to exclusively hook up with blondes. DeNiro just finds a different kind of woman attractive. Yeah, I think it’s probably just what one finds attractive. I tend to like guys with dusky skin; I just find it attractive and eye-catching. Consequently, I’m attracted to latin types and asian guys. Am I dating the race? No, I’m also attacted to tanned white guys, it’s just that the features that catch my eye happen to be cmmonly associated with people of backgrounds different from mine (Irish glow-in-the-dark white). ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/19 "2006-07-25T15:43:07Z")
It’s probably nothing more complicated than liking women with brown skin, dark hair, and other physical features commonly associated with black women. Some men have a thing for young women. Some men like blondes. And some prefer chocolate over vanilla. Doesn’t have to be any deeper than that. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896/20 "2006-07-25T17:15:55Z")
I dated a black girl in college (I am white). This was in 1981, in a conservative Christian college in Nashville, and the race thing was never a problem because we saw each other as individuals with a lot of common interests – neither of us were trained to think of things in racial terms. We dated as individuals, not ars members of our respective races! I have known one black guy who was obsessed with blonde women and one white guy who was obsessed with Asian women. They did think in terms of race, to the point of being rather silly about it, if you ask me! Another observation: one time (mid 1990s) I overheard a conversation between two guys about interracial relationships “back when it mattered” (their term/phrase), say back in the sixties and early seventies. One of the guys was talking about people that he knew from high school and college. The other guy mentioned two celebrities of opposite races – he was black, she was white; time and a deteriorating brain prevent me from recalling the specific actors. The first guy retorted, “Oh, that is different, they are both celebrities. Celebrities are a breed apart!” I always thought that was funny! Once you achieve celebrity status, the rules and mores of regular society don’t really apply to you anymore! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-deniro-and-black-women/365896.md?page=2)