How Rob Reiner and His Wife Michele’s 36-Year Love Story Changed Rom-Coms Forever
The couple, who met a devastatingly tragic end, were best friends and partners in film and activism
The devastating news of the murder of beloved director Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer Michele Reiner, by their son, Nick Reiner, has shocked the world. Rob, the son of Dick Van Dyke Show creator Carl Reiner, grew up in a famous family and went on to establish himself as a great talent in his own right, starring in the trailblazing sitcom All in the Family in the ’70s and later directing iconic films of the ’80s and ’90s, including Spinal Tap (1984), Stand by Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally (1989), Misery (1990) and A Few Good Men (1992).
By all accounts, Rob Reiner was one of the kindest and most down to earth people in Hollywood. In an industry filled with short-lived relationships and scandal, his 36-year marriage to Michele stood out, and the couple remained devoted to each other until their tragic end. Michele made a major impact in Rob’s life, and even directly influenced the plot of When Harry Met Sally. Read on to learn all about their singularly sweet relationship.
The meet-cute that changed rom-com history
Rob Reiner met his future wife, Michele Singer, during the making of When Harry Met Sally. At the time, Reiner was single and had been previously married to Laverne & Shirley star and Big director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981. As he recalled in a New York Times interview, “I was sitting in L.A. with Barry Sonnenfeld, the cinematographer on the film. This was before shooting started, and I was bemoaning my lack-of-woman fate. And he says to me, ‘I know this girl. Her name is Michele Singer, and you’re going to marry her.’ And I said, ‘What, are you nuts?’”
One fateful day, while Reiner was shooting a scene in which the film’s stars, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, have an argument, Singer came to visit the set, and it was love at first sight. “I look over, and I see this girl, and whoo! I was attracted immediately,” Reiner told The New York Times, and the couple married in 1989, the year When Harry Met Sally was released.
Reiner often spoke about how meeting Singer led him to change the ending of his classic rom-com. In an interview on The Drew Barrymore Show to promote what would be his last film, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, he said that when he started working on When Harry Met Sally, he was “Making a mess out of my dating life,” and explained that his romantic struggles drew him to the project.
Once Reiner met his future wife, however, he realized that Nora Ephron’s script would need a few changes. As he told Barrymore, “The original ending we had was that they didn’t get together, because I didn’t know how that was ever going to happen, and so at the end of the movie we had it where they run into each other in the street, they talk and then they walk in opposite directions and the camera pulls up. And then I meet the woman who I’ve now been married to for 36 years, Michele, and we fall in love during the making of the movie, and so I changed the ending so that they get back together . . . I said, ‘OK, I get it, I see how it could work,’ and so we changed the ending and had Billy running in and professing his love right at New Year’s Eve.”
The powerful bond Rob and Michele Reiner shared: ‘She has helped raise me’
After marrying in 1989, Rob and Michele Reiner had three children, Jake, Nick and Romy. Nick battled drug addiction for many years and has been arrested for murdering his parents.
During their time together, Rob and Michele frequently appeared on the red carpet together, and they were well known for their shared dedication to political activism. Together, the couple used their platform to advocate for early childhood education, marriage equality and other causes. Reiner credited his wife with strengthening his advocacy, saying, “I can honestly say the reason I’ve done as many things in the political sphere is largely because of her . . . She is my Bunsen burner that lights the flame in my ass.”
In addition to being partners in activism, the Reiners also collaborated creatively, as Michele worked as a photographer on the set of Misery and served as a producer on his films Shock and Awe (2017), Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (2023) and Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025).
In an AARP interview around the time of his 25th wedding anniversary in 2014, Reiner shared heartfelt words about his marriage, saying, “As you go along, the relationship becomes better and better because you really become best friends. And that has happened. She has helped raise me. The thing I talk about, how women show you what’s important, she has done for me.”
The many lovely things Rob said about Michele feel particularly poignant in the wake of their harrowing deaths, and the Reiners will be deeply missed.
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