Inside Rob Reiner’s home weeks before the killings, according to a close friend

Weeks before the murders, Rob Reiner’s home was full of love, says close friend

Just weeks before Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were brutally murdered inside their Brentwood home, the house was filled with noise, warmth and what one close friend describes as overwhelming love.

Cinematographer Barry Markowitz, a longtime collaborator and personal friend of Rob Reiner, recently stayed with the family while in Los Angeles for the Nov. 14 premiere of Reiner’s latest film, The Perfect Gamble. What he witnessed, he says, makes the tragedy all the more incomprehensible.

Markowitz recalled being welcomed into the Reiner residence without hesitation. Rob and Michele insisted he stay with them rather than book a hotel, telling him that a home, with family, conversation and comfort, mattered more than any luxury accommodation. During his five-day stay, life inside the house felt entirely normal.

The family moved through their days as they always had. Dinners were eaten together. Evenings were spent watching movies, yelling at the television during basketball games, playing with the dogs and talking late into the night. Markowitz described the atmosphere as loud, affectionate and deeply connected, “one big love fest,” as he put it.

Nick Reiner, 32, who has since been arrested in connection with his parents’ murders, was present and engaged throughout that time. Markowitz said Nick appeared healthy and stable, participating in family routines and household chores. He played tennis, shot hoops, helped with dishes, took out the trash and casually chatted with everyone around him. Nothing about his behavior raised concern.

According to Markowitz, there were no visible cracks in the family dynamic. Staff and assistants came and went as usual. Projects were being planned. Michele, whom Markowitz affectionately described as the emotional center of the household, kept everything running smoothly. Rob, he said, remained exactly as he’d always known him, generous, affectionate and endlessly patient.

Markowitz emphasized that Rob and Michele never abandoned their son despite his long and very public struggles with addiction. They pursued treatment relentlessly, sending Nick to top-tier rehabilitation facilities and supporting him without enabling him financially. In Markowitz’s view, they did everything parents possibly could.

The idea that Rob or Michele feared Nick never crossed his mind. Markowitz said Rob never expressed concerns about his own safety, even though Nick had previously admitted to damaging the home during a drug-fueled episode years earlier. During Markowitz’s stay, nothing about Nick suggested violence or instability.

Markowitz, who also worked with Rob and Nick on the 2015 film Being Charlie, denied reports of lingering father-son tension. On set, he said, the dynamic felt collaborative and familial, not strained. Arguments, resentment or hostility were simply not part of what he observed.

Now, following Nick’s arrest, Markowitz struggles to reconcile the loving environment he witnessed with the horrifying outcome. He believes mental illness may be the only explanation that makes sense, insisting that violence does not always require motive or logic.

The loss has left him devastated. Markowitz said Rob was more than a collaborator, he was family. Seeing reminders of Reiner everywhere, from news stories to old messages, has made the grief relentless and surreal.

Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 68, were found stabbed to death inside their Brentwood home on Sunday afternoon. Nick Reiner was arrested on murder charges and was expected to be arraigned this week, though proceedings were delayed after his attorney said he was not medically cleared to appear in court.

Investigators are continuing to piece together events, including reports of a heated exchange between Nick and his parents at Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party the night before their deaths.

The account of Markowitz’s stay was first reported as an exclusive by Page Six.

For those who knew Rob and Michele intimately, the image of violence inside a home defined by love remains impossible to grasp, a tragedy that, even weeks later, still refuses to make sense.