Rob Reiner’s Son Jake Seen in First Public Appearance Since Parents’ Deaths

Rob Reiner’s son Jake returned to the red carpet for the first time in more than six months following the devastating double murder of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner.

Jake, 35, was photographed Tuesday as he arrived at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles for the premiere of Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, a new project from Larry David, a close associate of his late father.

The appearance marked a somber public return for Jake, whose parents were fatally stabbed inside their Brentwood, California, home on December 14.

His younger brother, Nick, was later arrested and charged in connection with the double killing. He has pleaded not guilty.

Jake donned a black suit with a grey sweater and black shoes in the red carpet appearance for the show, noting in an Instagram post Thursday that he would be appearing on it. 

“Attended the premiere of Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness this week. Comes out Friday on @hbo @hbomax, look out for me in the first episode,” Jake wrote in the post.

Jake has since spoken about the harrowing moment he learned his parents had been killed late last year, saying the news reached him while he was attending a celebration of life for a close friend who had died months earlier.

He said in an April Substack post, ‘I received a call from my sister Romy telling me our father was dead. Minutes later, she called back telling me our mother was also dead.’

Jake said that ‘the 45-minute Lyft ride from downtown to the west side was unendurable’ and he was ‘in a trance’ upon learning the horrific news.

He continued, ‘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 said that he ‘was robbed of so many things that day,’ noting a number of milestones left empty in the wake of their tragic deaths.

‘My parents won’t be at my wedding, they won’t get to hold their future grandchild, and they won’t get to see me have the successful career I’m still seeking,’ he said. ‘It simultaneously breaks my heart and enrages me.’

Jake said that ‘nothing can prepare you for what it feels like to lose both parents instantly at the same time,’ saying that ‘it’s too devastating to comprehend’ and has left him in a ‘living nightmare.’

Speaking about the deadly incident, Jake said he’s thought about ‘how frightened they must have been’ adding, ‘They were the last people in the world to deserve what happened to them.’

Nick Reiner earlier this month said he was seeking unpaid money from a trust his parents established for him amid his defense against charges that he killed them.

A petition filed by the 32-year-old Nick Reiner’s civil attorneys in a Los Angeles County court on June 9 says that trustees overseeing the funds have denied them to him without legal justification, and he needs and should get them now.

‘Nick loved his parents, and he is devastated by their deaths. But the facts about what did and did not happen to them are not at issue in this Trust litigation,’ the petition says. ‘Like anyone accused of a crime, Nick is presumed innocent, and he is entitled to mount his defense with the resources that are lawfully his own.’

Reiner retained high-profile private lawyer Alan Jackson to represent him, but less than a month later Jackson left the case for reasons he said he couldn’t share. 

The new filing reveals that Reiner’s siblings, Jake and Romy Reiner, had initially agreed to pay for Jackson, but reversed course.

In a declaration included with the petition, Jackson said ‘my firm stands ready, willing, and able to resume representation of Mr. Reiner’ if the funds become available.

The filing says that apart from the larger Reiner family trust, which is not at issue, Rob and Michele Reiner established smaller individual trusts for Nick Reiner and his siblings. 

It says they left ‘unambiguous instructions’ in Nick Reiner’s trust, established in 1993, that he was to receive half its money when he turned 30 and the rest at 35.

But, the filing says, Reiner never received the funds he was entitled to at 30, and that the trustee overseeing them since February – attorney Paul R. Kanin – has given ‘a shifting series of excuses and justifications’ to deny Reiner the money.

They include concerns about Reiner’s competence that have no bearing on a payout that is mandatory.

Reiner says he should also get the money he was to receive at 35 immediately because his defense and his need for basic necessities in jail require it.

The petition says the trust has at least $1.5 million in assets, but that Kanin will not share the exact amount of its value.

Proceedings in Reiner’s murder case are moving slowly. He is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing in September. 

He is eligible for the death penalty, but District Attorney Nathan Hochman has said his office has not yet decided whether to seek it.

Authorities have said nothing about possible motives, and leaks in the case have been virtually nonexistent on both sides. 

A court order has kept most details of the autopsy secret. Many of the most basic questions about the killing remain unanswered publicly.

On the day he left the case, Jackson, speaking outside court, declared adamantly that ‘pursuant to the laws of California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder.’

In April, Jake Reiner gave his first detailed account of the experience of losing his parents and having his brother at the center of it, calling it ‘a living nightmare’ that is ‘too devastating to comprehend.’

Rob Reiner was a prolific director whose work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s. 

His credits included This is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, A Few Good Men and When Harry Met Sally… during the production of which he met photographer Michele Singer. They wed soon after and were married for 36 years.