Robert De Niro Cuts Ex-Wife’s Credit Card Limit After Suffering Financial Blow Due To Coronavirus

Robert De Niro's ex-wife is complaining after he cut her credit card limit due to a massive financial blow amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Irishaman” star’s ex Grace Hightower complained through her lawyer and told a judge that De Niro unfairly cut her Am-Ex allowance. She used to have $100,000 credit limit, but he decided to cut it by 50%. She also alleged that she and their children have been banned from an upstate compound where “The Inter” actor is staying, Page Six reported.

De Niro’s lawyer, Caroline Krauss, responded to Hightower’s concern and said that the actor decided to cut it because he suffered a huge financial setback during the pandemic. The actor has stakes in restaurant chain Nobu and Greenwich Hotel, but both have closed or partially closed for months due to COVID-19.

Krauss told the judge that Nobu lost $3 million in April and another $1.87 million in May. De Niro had to pay investors $500,000 on a capital call, which he borrowed from his business partners because “he doesn’t have the cash.”

De Niro’s legal defense attorney also said that their 2004 prenuptial agreement only required him to pay Hightower $1 million a year as long as he makes $15 million or more in income. If his income declines, his payments to her will be proportionally reduced, too.

“His accounts and business manager … says that the best case for Mr. De Niro, if everything starts to turn around this year,… he is going to be lucky if he makes $7.5 million this year,” Krauss said.

However, Hightower’s lawyer, Kevin McDonough, didn’t believe Kraus. According to him, “the idea that Mr. De Niro is tightening his belt is nonsense.”

“Mr. De Niro has used the COVID pandemic, my words would be, to stick it to his wife financially,” McDonough said.

“I’m not a believer that a man who has an admitted worth of $500 million and makes $30 million a year, all of a sudden in March he needs to cut down [spousal support] by 50 percent and ban her from the house.”

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper issued a temporary ruling and didn’t ask De Niro to increase Hightower’s credit limit back to $100,000. He believes $50,000 a month is sufficient. However, he asked De Niro to pay her $75,000, so she can find a summer home for their two kids.

De Niro and Hightower were together for over two decades. They married in 1997 but he filed for divorce in 1999. They renewed their vows in 2004 and split again in 2018, CNN reported.

Following their last separation in 2018, De Niro released a statement with nothing but kind words for his ex-wife.

"I honor Grace as a wonderful mother and ask for privacy and respect from all as we proceed to develop our roles as partners in parenting,” he told Today.