Robert De Niro, 79, welcomes 7th child

Academy Award-winner Robert De Niro is the talk of the Twitterverse after revealing that he welcomed his seventh child at the age of 79.

The 'Once Upon a Time in America' actor talked about his new baby while promoting his new movie, 'About My Father'. 

While discussing parenting with ET Canada, he said he enjoys "being loving" with children, even though he has to be stern at times. 

"I mean, there's no way around it with kids. I don't like to have to lay down the law and stuff like that. But, [sometimes] you just have no choice. And any parent, I think, would say the same thing. You always want to do the right thing by the children and give them the benefit of the doubt but sometimes you can't," he told reporter Brittnee Blair. 

When Brittnee mentioned his six children, Robert corrected her by saying he actually has seven. 

"I just had a baby," he said. Robert then opened up about whether he considers himself to be a cool dad. 

"I don't think that I'm a cool father... I'm okay, my kids disagree with me at times. They're respectful. My daughter - she's 11 - she gives me grief sometimes. I argue with her, I adore."

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Robert De Niro Children

The actor did not elaborate further on baby #7 or reveal the identity of the mother.  

According to the Daily Mail, he was last linked to martial arts instructor Tiffany Chen. The pair were pictured together in July last year. She was also spotted with a baby bump earlier this year. 

Robert and his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, have two children together - Raphael and Drena. He shares twins - Julian and Aaron - with model Toukie Smith.

Grace Hightower is the mother of his son Elliot and daughter Helen Grace - who until recently was the youngest member of the De Niro family at 11 years old. 

Twitter users had mixed reactions to Robert's baby news.

"Seems irresponsible if you ask me," one Twitter use commented. 

Another user added: "Robert De Niro having a kid at 79 years old means it's never too late for me."

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Main image credit: AFP