Gayle King has revealed why Robert De Niro’s girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, was upset by the headlines that have been written about her.
During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the 68-year-old reflected on her conversation with Chen, who revealed in an interview onCBS Mornings that she was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy after giving birth to her and De Niro’s daughter, Gia Virginia, in April. According to the Mayo Clinic, Bell’s palsy causes a “weakness in the muscles on one side of the face,” but the condition is often temporary and improves in a couple of weeks. In Chen’s experience, both sides of her face were affected.
According to King, Chen told her that as her symptoms became more noticeable throughout the last few months, that’s when she noticed more “hurtful” headlines about her appearance.
“You can see it a little bit on her face. She said it was really a bad situation because both sides of her face dropped and she said it was hurtful and unkind that you read the headlines [asking], ‘What’s wrong with her? She’s never smiling, she looks so somber, why does she look so mean?’” the journalist recalled.
King went on to express how Chen told her that “people have no idea what women are going through,” which is why she “wanted to share the story of Bell’s palsy and how this can happen in your pregnancy”. The journalist also shared the message about compassion that Chen wanted people to gain from their interview.
“Her message really is, ‘Everybody, can you just be kind and can you just understand that we could all be going through something?’” she added.
King recalled that she asked Chen if the headlines about her appearance “hurt [her] feelings”. While she said no to this question, according to King, Chen still expressed that she wasn’t happy when people made “assumptions” about her.
“[Chen] goes, ‘No, I’m not gonna say it hurt my feelings, but it was upsetting to me that people just make assumptions when they don’t know you,” King explained. “And as women, we just need allies to give us some grace and some understanding.’”
During the interview, which airs in full on Friday, Chen revealed to King that her “face felt weird” and her tongue was funny after giving birth.
“When I got home it was like everything was just starting to fall down on itself, like my face was melting,” she said, in a preview of the episode. “A week after giving birth, that was when it all hit, and I called my doctor. I was trying to eat. I went to put a fork of food in my mouth and everything came out. I couldn’t eat. And I was starting to slur.”
According to Chen, she then got admitted to the hospital and “lost all facial function” when she got there.
As noted by the Mayo Clinic, the disorder, also known as “acute peripheral facial palsy,” can make the face appear lopsided or droopy suddenly and worsen within days. While there is no confirmed cause of the neurological condition, The Facial Paralysis Institute has linked many cases to women post-pregnancy.
During her interview with ET, King said that while Chen wasn’t scared or ashamed of her condition, she knows that there have been other women out there who are “suffering [from] Bell’s palsy after pregnancy” and “don’t want to leave the house”. With that in mind, King said that Chen was even more encouraged to speak out about Bell’s palsy.
“[Chen] said, ‘I just wanted women to know it’s OK. Most times, you will get through it. Normally it’s not permanent. It can take some time... I want women to know that. Please don’t be ashamed, please don’t huddle in your house, please come out, it’s all right,’” King explained.
In May, De Niro announced the birth of Gia Virginia – his seventh child – when he corrected an ET Canada correspondent who described him as a father of six children. “I just had a baby,” he told the interviewer.
Along with Gia, the GoodFellas star has six children from previous relationships. De Niro and his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, share one daughter, Drena, 51, and one son, Raphael, 46. In 1995, he welcomed his twins, Julian and Aaron, 27, with ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith. He also shares his 25-year-old son, Elliot, and 11-year-old daughter, Helen Grace, with ex-wife Grace Hightower.
During her interview with ET, King also recalled how Chen and De Niro first met in 2015, while she worked as the Tai Chi instructor on the set of his film, The Intern. According to King, Chen told her that she didn’t start her relationship with the actor right away.
“She said it didn’t happen right away, that they started off as friends and then [they] became friends, now [they’re] really good friends,” King explained. “And she’s got a great sense of humor too, but it’s not like she was looking for something. But something about them together clearly clicks and clicks very well.”
