It has been eight months since beloved Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were killed and their son Nick Reiner was arrested in their deaths.
But for Jake Reiner, the couple’s 35-year-old son, the nightmare feels like “eight years at the same time, and it also feels like eight minutes,” he told KABC-TV of Los Angeles in his first sit-down interview since the family tragedy.
“Every moment that I wake up, I’m reminded of my reality, and you’re living through that every single day,” he said.
Jake said he hasn’t spoken to his brother. Nor has he attended any of his brother’s court hearings, the station reported.
“He’s in jail, so, you know, it’s like I physically lost my parents and then Nick was arrested. And it’s like now, it’s just me and Romy,” he said, referring to his 28-year-old sister.
Jake opened up to KABC in the interview, which aired Thursday, about navigating grief and how it can manifest into anger.
“I’ll never understand. I don’t care how it’s explained to me. I don’t care what facts come out. I will never understand why this happened,” he told the station.
“It manifests into rage, into how unfair this was. How I didn’t get a say in what happened. I didn’t get to stop it from happening. I had no choice in the matter, and I just have to accept the reality of it. And to me that is just one of the most infuriating parts of all this,” he said.
Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70, were found brutally stabbed in their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Dec. 14. Nick was arrested hours later.
Jake was at Los Angeles’ Union Station for a celebration of life event for a friend when his sister called. He didn’t pick up.
“She called immediately again, and I knew at that point something immediately was wrong. Romy told me our dad was dead, and then she said, ‘I can’t find Mom.’ And I immediately went into shock. I need to get out of this train station, and I need to get to my parents’ house,” he recalled.
Asked whether he was surprised to learn that his brother was the main suspect, Jake took a deep breath and said, “I feel like that’s something I don’t really want to answer right now.”
In April, Jake wrote about his heartbreak on Substack, saying, “We lost more than half of our family that night in the most violent way imaginable.” He affirmed that that included Nick.
Nick Reiner, 32, has a long history of drug addiction and has struggled with his mental health. He co-wrote the 2016 movie “Being Charlie” with his father, who directed it, about the experiences of a young man who struggles with recovery.
“I can tell you, they never stopped wanting to help him. They never stopped helping him,” Jake said of his parents’ supporting Nick. “And I think that project was a way for my dad to try and connect with him.”
Asked whether it was ever a fear that something like the murders could ever happen, Jake declined to answer.
Now his focus is on following in his parents’ footsteps working with the Children’s Institute, an organization that supports children and families. He’ll be at its gala in November.
“It’s going to be hard. I think everything that we’ve done so far without them has been hard and weird. But I do feel responsible for making sure people know them and they remember them,” he said.
Nick Reiner has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in connection with special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and lying in wait. His case continues in court. Earlier this summer, he filed a petition seeking access to his more than $1.5 million trust fund to help pay for his defense.
KABC reported that Jake Reiner isn’t commenting about his brother’s attempts to access money from the trust.
