Conan O’Brien is speaking publicly for the first time about the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner, revealing how recently he had spent time with the couple before they were found dead.
According to Fox News, during an interview with The New Yorker, the late-night host described seeing the Reiners at his holiday party on Dec. 13, just hours before their bodies were discovered the following day.
“I knew Rob and Michele, and then increasingly got closer and closer to them, and I was seeing them a lot,” he said. “My wife and I were seeing them a lot, and they were so—they were just such lovely people. And to have that experience of saying good night to somebody and having them leave and then find out the next day that they’re gone.”
O’Brien said the news left him reeling.
“I think I was in shock for quite a while afterward. I mean, there’s no other word for it. It’s just very—it’s so awful. It’s just so awful. And I think about how Rob felt about things that are happening in the country, how involved he was, how much he put himself out there—and to have that voice go quiet in an instant is still hard for me to comprehend.”
Rob and Michele Reiner were found dead inside their Brentwood, California home on Dec. 14. Their son Nick was arrested later that day and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
According to reports, all three had attended O’Brien’s party the night before. Family and friends told the Los Angeles Times that Nick had a heated argument with his parents during the gathering and was acting erratically.
“Nick was freaking everyone out, acting crazy, kept asking people if they were famous,” a source told People.
During the interview, O’Brien also reflected on Rob Reiner’s filmmaking career, calling his run of influential movies extraordinary.
“Now, if you can make one great movie, that’s impressive. It’s an almost impossible feat,” he said. “To make two means that you’re one of the greats. To make seven—in, like, a nine-year, ten-year, eleven-year period—is insanity. With “Spinal Tap” alone, if that’d been the only thing he ever did, he influenced my generation enormously.”
Tributes have continued to pour in from colleagues and fans. In a statement to People, the couple’s children, Jake and Romy, thanked supporters for their compassion.
“The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends,” they said.
“We are grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life. We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”
