Jake Reiner has opened up about the violent deaths of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, revealing the moment he learned of their deaths, while memorializing the Hollywood couple as “the center of my life” and “the standard of what a successful relationship looks like.”
“Nothing can prepare you for what it feels like to lose both parents instantly at the same time. It’s too devastating to comprehend. I still wake up every morning having to convince myself that, no, it’s not a dream. This truly is my living nightmare,” Reiner said in an emotional essay published Friday.
Jake Reiner said he was at a memorial for a friend who died about two months earlier when his sister, Romy Reiner, called him on Dec. 14 to tell him their father was dead. Minutes later, she called again to say their mother was dead too.
The couple’s youngest son, Nick Reiner, was arrested a short time later in connection with their stabbing deaths.
“The 45-minute Lyft ride from downtown to the west side was unendurable. My world, as I knew it, had collapsed. I was in a trance. The only thing I could focus on was that I needed to get to my childhood home. I needed to get to my sister. I needed to figure out what the hell just happened,” Jake Reiner recalled.
