Claim:
Nick Reiner, arrested on a murder charge following the death of his parents, Hollywood couple Rob and Michele Reiner, was undergoing gender transition at the time of the crime.
Rating:
In mid-December 2025, a rumor circulated online that Nick Reiner — suspected in the deaths of his father, Hollywood actor and director Rob Reiner, and mother, Michele Singer Reiner, on Dec. 14 — was in the process of gender transition.
The rumor circulated primarily (archived) on (archived) Facebook, with users alleging the 32-year-old had “recently begun transitioning into a woman, pumped full of hormones with his parents’ full throated support and enablement of his body dysphoria.”
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Nick Reiner’s arrest during a news conference the morning of Dec. 15, viewable on C-SPAN, but made no mention of gender transition. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell told reporters:
Yesterday, Dec. 14 about 3:40 in the afternoon, LAPD responded to the residence of Rob and Michele Reiner located in West Los Angeles Division. At that location, they found two deceased adults, a male and a female. Through the night, working with the coroner’s office, they were able to identify them definitively as Rob and Michele Reiner. We have our robbery-homicide division handling the investigation. They worked throughout the night on this case and were able to take into custody Nick Reiner, a suspect in this case. He was subsequently booked for murder and is being held on $4 million bail.
However, there was no evidence supporting the claim that Nick Reiner had recently begun a gender transition. Rather, the rumor appeared to originate as satirical content to generate engagement from social media users.
The Facebook account (archived) that appeared to originate the story belonged to a self-described comedian named Jonathan Gregory who also claimed he was a “Digital Content Creator for the Trump Administration” employed at conservative media outlet Newsmax. Gregory has not yet responded to Snopes’ request for comment on his post about Nick Reiner, but we have reported on past posts from the same account that indicated satirical origins.
Gregory’s lengthy post featured his name in a byline that suggested it was an official Newsmax publication, but a search of the Newsmax website featured no bylines from Gregory. Newsmax’s coverage of the Reiners’ deaths was attributed to “Newsmax Wire” with contributions from The Associated Press.
Snopes reached out to representatives for the Reiners for further comment and will update this article if we hear back.
Father and son previously collaborated
Nick Reiner collaborated with his father making the 2015 film “Being Charlie,” based on his own struggles with addiction and homelessness. During an interview promoting the movie, viewable on YouTube, the elder Reiner called the experience of collaborating with his son “difficult at times” but “the most satisfying creative experience.”
In a 2016 People magazine interview about his experiences leading to “Being Charlie,” Nick Reiner said, “That made me who I am now, having to deal with that stuff…. Now, I’ve been home for a really long time, and I’ve sort of gotten acclimated back to being in L.A. and being around my family. But there was a lot of dark years there.”
In addition to his work in Hollywood, Rob Reiner was well-known advocate for Democratic causes, particularly the 2010 overturning of California’s Prop 8, a ban same-sex marriage.
The Advocate reported Reiner said in a 2019 speech at a Human Rights Campaign event, “We have to move past singling out transgender, LGBTQ, black, white, Jewish, Muslim, Latino. We have to get way past that and start accepting the idea that we’re all human beings. We’re all human beings, we all share the same planet, and we should all have the same rights, period. It’s no more complicated than that.”
Sources
– YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8AdLnRM2NI. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.
Celebs Speak Out for Trans Day of Visibility at HRC L.A. Dinner. https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2019/3/31/celebs-speak-out-trans-day-visibility-hrc-la-dinner. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.
December 15, Alynda Wheat Alynda Wheat Alynda Wheat is a former movie critic at PEOPLE She left PEOPLE in 2016 People Editorial Guidelines Updated on, and 2025 10:41am Est. “Nick Reiner, Rob Reiner’s Son, Opens Up About Drug Addiction, Living on Streets.” People.Com, https://people.com/celebrity/nick-reiner-rob-reiners-son-opens-up-about-drug-addiction-living-on-streets/. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.
Kilday, Gregg. “How Rob Reiner Became Anti-Prop. 8 Kingpin.” The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Aug. 2010, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/how-rob-reiner-became-anti-26362/.
Liles, Jordan. “Trump Post Said Rob Reiner Died from ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.'” Snopes, 15 Dec. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/rob-reiner-trump-post/.
“Live Updates: Rob Reiner’s Son Nick ‘booked for Murder’ in Stabbings of Director-Actor and Wife.” AP News, https://apnews.com/live/rob-michele-reiner-dead-updates. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.
Nick Reiner Arrested and Booked for Murder After Parents Found Dead At Los Angeles Home | Video | C-SPAN.Org. https://www.c-span.org/clip/news-conference/nick-reiner-arrested-and-booked-for-murder-after-parents-found-dead-at-los-angeles-home/5184768. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.
Staff, T. M. Z. “Rob Reiner and Wife Michele Had Throats Slit by Family Member.” TMZ, 15 Dec. 2025, https://www.tmz.com/2025/12/15/rob-reiner-wife-michele-throats-slit-family-member-argument/.
———. “Rob Reiner, Wife Michele Found Dead in Their L.A. Home with Knife Wounds.” TMZ, 14 Dec. 2025, https://www.tmz.com/2025/12/14/rob-reiner-wife-michele-found-dead-los-angeles-home/.
Times, Greg Hanlon Greg Hanlon Greg Hanlon has been an editor in PEOPLE’s crime vertical since 2015 He has been covering crime for more than 15 years His work has appeared previously in The New York, et al. “Rob Reiner and His Wife Michele Were Killed by Their Son (Exclusive Sources).” People.Com, https://people.com/rob-reiner-wife-michele-were-killed-by-son-sources-11868856. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.
Vlessing, Etan. “Rob Reiner’s Son Nick Reiner Arrested Amid Homicide Investigation Into Parents’ Deaths.” The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Dec. 2025, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/local-news/rob-reiner-dead-son-nick-arrested-1236450810/.
