Rob and Michele Reiner shared a love that deepened with time, and endured until their tragic ends.
The world mourned their loss after they were both found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home on Dec. 14. Rob was 78 and Michele was 70.
Days later, their troubled son Nick, who has battled drug addiction issues for years, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
The Hollywood icon and skilled photographer left a legacy of undying love for each other.
The “Princess Bride” director first crossed paths with Michele during the production of his famous 1989 film, “When Harry Met Sally.”
At the time, Rob had been single for 10 years after divorcing his first wife, the late Penny Marshall. (Rob had adopted Marshall’s daughter, Tracy, during their 10-year marriage.)
“I couldn’t see how I would get with anybody ever again,” Rob told AARP in 2014.
Rob’s deep feelings for Michele inspired him to change the ending of the script, and their relationship became “the basis of the film.”
“We had an ending where they didn’t get together,” he said, referring to Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan’s characters. “But I met [Michele] three-quarters of the way through the movie, and I thought, ‘Oh, well, I see how this could work again.”
The film went on to become one of the defining romantic classics of its generation, quietly foreshadowing Rob’s own epic love story with Michele.
The couple tied the knot in 1989 — the same year the movie premiered — and they went on to welcome three children together.
In 1999, Rob and Michele posed for a W Magazine photo shoot inside their family’s California home, effectively preserving a lasting image of their profound partnership.
“The shoot was a wonderful experience,” the photographer, Michael Mundy, exclusively told Page Six on Wednesday.
Mundy explained that he knew the pair through a mutual friend, so everyone was “comfortable with each other” as he shot their portraits.
“The pictures speak for themselves … Everything you see there is real,” he said. “All those moments were actual true affection for each other. They were just very comfortable in each other’s space.”
Rob and Michele had a real “warmth” and “physical attraction” between them, the photographer recalled.
“During that afternoon of shooting the two of them … He’s making her laugh, making her giggle. They were flirting with each other, quite frankly,” Mundy said. “As a photographer, you eat that up. It’s a gift.”
Mundy noted the way Michele would look into Rob’s eyes, sharing that they “loved each other” and “loved their kids.”
“I’m just so happy that I got to take [the photos] and capture them as they were,” he said. “Anything else would be cheap. That’s how Rob Reiner was. He didn’t need people to sell his work. His work sold itself.”
Their love would continue to grow and flourish over the next 26 years.
“As you go along, the relationship becomes better and better because you really become best friends,” Rob told AARP, describing the secret to a long-lasting marriage. “And that has happened. [Michele] has helped raise me.”
Cinematographer Barry Markowitz, who collaborated with the late director on several film projects, described Michele as her husband’s “rock” in an interview with Page Six Tuesday.
“She was the kingpin and she was the strength,” Markowitz said, dubbing her a “balabusta,” the Yiddish word for an exceptionally skilled homemaker.
Mundy agreed with that sentiment, calling Michele a “tough cookie” who kept Rob grounded.
“Rob was second-generation Hollywood,” Mundy said, referring to his legendary screenwriter father, Carl Reiner. “Rob lived in a bit of a bubble, but Michele lived in the real world.”
“They were both very funny, loved a good laugh, Michele was a real straight shooter,” he continued. “That’s how she penetrated into his world so quickly.”
Rob and Michele’s relationship was stronger than ever when they passed away, according to their close friend Maria Shriver.
“They were in the best place in their lives: loving one another, loving their friends, their family, their country,” Shriver shared, while honoring their memories in a tribute post on Dec. 14.
Rob and Michele loved being in each other’s company — from the opening scene to the final act of their great romance.
“We’re good friends,” Rob told AARP just last year.
“That’s what it comes down to.”
