Billy Crystal reportedly saw the bodies of director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer while responding to a call from their daughter.
The bodies of both the Hollywood director, 78, and his 68-year-old wife were discovered by their daughter Romy at their home in Los Angeles with knife wounds. Their son Nick, 32, has since been arrested in connection with the deaths.
Sources have told TMZ that Romy, 28, called When Harry Met Sally actor Crystal and his wife not long after contacting police to report finding her parents murdered on Sunday in their Brentwood mansion.
They add that Crystal and his wife Janice ‘raced over’ to the house and ‘wanted to say their goodbyes’, the US outlet reports.
When police cornered off the property, Crystal was seen looking emotional with his wife at the scene.
A statement on behalf of the family read: ‘It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner.
‘We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.’
The couple met on the set of When Harry Met Sally and got married in 1989, the year it came out, and went on to have children, Jake, Nick, and Romy, together.
Crystal, who starred in the celebrated romantic comedy alongside Meg Ryan, was a close friend of the This Is Spinal Tap director Reiner, with their bond stretching back to years before they collaborated in the Nora Ephron flick.
Reiner initially resisted casting Crystal and Ryan in the title roles on the basis of friendship, he told People in 2019, explaining: ‘Whenever you do something this personal and you’re best friends, if it doesn’t work, it’s like, “Oy!”‘ he recalled. ‘Finally, I said, “Aw, f*** it; he’s perfect!” The biggest laugh in any film I’ve ever done was a line Billy came up with: ‘I’ll have what she’s having.”‘
Before this, Crystal had a smaller role in Reiner’s 1984 directorial debut This Is Spinal Tap – after he pivoted from acting – and three years later he appeared in The Princess Bride, too.
They first met in 1975 when Crystal was cast alongside Reiner in CBS sitcom All in the Family.
It is believed that Reiner’s son Nick attended Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party with his parents on Saturday night, with sources claiming he exhibited ‘antisocial behaviour’ at the event, telling Rolling Stone that his parents wanted to ‘keep an eye on him,’ hence his attendance.
Nick has been open about his struggles with drug addiction and homelessness in the past, telling 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.’
In 2015, screenwriter Nick and his famous father made the drama Being Charlie, inspired by their family struggles.
The movie followed 18-year-old addict Charlie Mills, based on Nick’s experiences. The family admitted that the character’s resentment for the way his parents treated his addiction – including stints in rehab – reflected their own interactions.
‘When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen. We were desperate, and because the people had diplomas on their wall, we listened to them when we should have been listening to our son,’ Reiner told the LA Times.
Nick added that he got clean because he ‘got sick of it’, explaining: ‘I come from a nice family. I’m not supposed to be out there on the streets and in homeless shelters doing all these f***ed-up things.’
Nick is being held without bail in connection to his parents’ death.
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