Nick Reiner Struggled With Addiction for Years — Here's What We Know About His Mental Health History
When Nick was 22 and his movie 'Being Charlie' came out, he'd already been in and out of rehab 18 times.
Published Dec. 16 2025, 1:28 p.m. ET
Hollywood mainstays Rob and Michele Reiner were tragically killed in their home in December of 2025. Their daughter, Romy, found their bodies in their Brentwood home on Sunday, Dec. 14. The LAPD arrested Rob and Michele's son Nick on suspicion of murder and said that Nick "is responsible" for his parents' deaths in a statement.
Less than 24 hours prior to the tragedy, Nick and Rob had been spotted arguing at Conan O'Brien's holiday party. Two people who were briefed on the case but "not authorized to speak publicly" said that Rob and Michele had been stabbed to death, per the New York Times. An anonymous source also said that police focused on Nick "almost immediately" because of his history of drug abuse and homelessness.
Sources saw Nick and his father fighting at Conan's Christmas party.
One source said that Rob and Nick got into a "shouting match" at Conan's party because Rob said that Nick's behavior was inappropriate, but it's not clear what, exactly, they were fighting about.
Someone also said that Nick was hovering at the fringes of the gathering and “looked anxious and uncomfortable in a way that deeply unsettled them," according to the New York Times.
Nick Reiner had a history of drug use, and talked about it openly as an adult.
The movie that Rob and Nick made together, Being Charlie, was loosely based on Nick's life and struggles with addiction. Nick co-wrote the script for the movie with Matt Elisofon, a friend Nick made at rehab. When the film came out, Nick was 22, and he said that he'd been in and out of rehab 18 times beginning at age 15.
Rob and Michele struggled to get Nick to go to rehab for his drug use. Nick didn't want to go, and they expressed some regret that they didn't listen to him and instead put their trust in the facilities.
In 2015, Michelle told the Los Angeles Times, "We were so influenced by these people. They would tell us he's a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them." Rob added, "We listened to them when we should have been listening to our son."
In an interview for Being Charlie, Nick said, "I think I’m lucky in the sense that, I have parents that care about me, that when I would go out and do … drugs, and things like that, I’d feel a tremendous amount of guilt. Because I’d think, ‘They’re thinking about me right now, they want me to do good’ … And some people don’t have parents who have any interest in them."
Nick experienced homelessness when he refused to go to rehab facilities. In 2016, he told People, "When I was out there, I could’ve died. It’s all luck. You roll the dice, and you hope you make it." While working on Being Charlie, Rob said that he and his son got a better understanding of what the other went through during Nick's battles with addiction.
Nick used cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines. On the Dopey podcast, he admitted that he once destroyed everything in his parents' guest house when he'd been awake for days using cocaine. He once had a heart attack from cocaine use and woke up in a hospital. Nick also admitted to throwing a rock through a window at a treatment facility to "convince officials" that he needed medication.
Nick said that he was put in a room with a heroin addict when he went to rehab as a teenager. At the time, he thought he'd never do heroin. But, he explained, "I’ve noticed that when you’re surrounded by people that are so willing to go out and ruin everything just for this one thing ... You get desensitized to these really hard-core things."
The cinematographer for Being Charlie, Barry Markowitz, said that the Reiner family was "tight-knit," often eating dinner together at Rob and Michele's Brentwood home. Nick told NPR in 2016, "I am a spoiled, white, rich kid from a Hollywood family. But I think it's even more of a testament to how powerful drugs can be that you don't care about any of that stuff." Nick said that he'd sometimes rather be homeless than go back to rehab.
A source told the New York Post that Nick had a history of violence, but Markowitz told NPR: "[Nick] was going through some rough times for many years, but his soul was so pure and gentle ... He was on the upswing. Looked like a GQ model. I wish I could give you a tidbit or something, like 'Oh, he looked bad and this and that'-- He didn't. That's what's so spooky about mental illness."
An anonymous friend told the New York Post that Rob feared Nick's mental health was deteriorating weeks before the tragedy. "Nick has been troubled mentally for his entire life and they have tried everything to try and help him and been unable to," they said.