Robert De Niro's lawyer says the actor is being 'forced to work' to pay for his ex-wife's luxury lifestyle

• Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower have been estranged since 2018.
• De Niro's lawyer says the actor cannot keep up with the workload that finances Hightower's life.
• Recently, a judge ordered that Hightower is to receive $1 million per year.

Robert De Niro's lawyer said the actor is being forced to work at an unsustainable pace and accept every role he is offered regardless of artistic quality to finance his estranged wife's luxury lifestyle.

De Niro and actress Grace Hightower first married in 1997. The pair split in 1999, and then renewed their vows in 2004 before the actor officially filed for divorce in 2018. In a virtual divorce hearing held last Friday, Page Six reported that De Niro's attorney, Caroline Krauss, told a New York judge that the actor is struggling to keep pace with his workload.

"Mr. De Niro is 77 years old, and while he loves his craft, he should not be forced to work at this prodigious pace because he has to," Krauss said. "When does that stop? When does he get the opportunity to not take every project that comes along and not work six-day weeks, 12-hour days so he can keep pace with Ms. Hightower's thirst for Stella McCartney?"

Earlier this year, a judge ruled that Hightower is to receive $1 million per year in the divorce settlement, and the couple is expected to sell their $20 million home. Hightower's legal team said De Niro is worth $500 million, but Krauss argued that the COVID-19 pandemic has left De Niro in a precarious financial position, which Hightower's continued spending exacerbates.

Krauss also said that De Niro is behind on a hefty tax bill, which the New York Daily News reported clocks in at $18.25 million. The income from his next two films is intended to be used to pay off that debt.

But during the court hearing, Hightower's lawyer, Kevin McDonough, said there had been no "cutbacks and no slowdowns in Mr. De Niro's lifestyle whatsoever." McDonough said: "When Mr. De Niro goes to brunch Sunday in Connecticut, he charters a helicopter up there. When he flies down to see his friends in Florida or wherever else, it's a private jet."

In a statement during the proceedings, Justice Matthew Cooper told both parties that "there's nothing ordinary about these expenses for 99.99999% of the world."

"These are extraordinary to an almost unimaginable degree," he said. "I want to get these parties divorced. I want to get Mr. De Niro and Ms. Hightower to go their separate ways. They're both going to come out of this richer than most human beings who walk this earth. There's no question about it."

De Niro and Hightower share two children. A 9-year-old daughter whom they had through a surrogate and a 23-year-old son.