A crushing divorce left actor and director Rob Reiner jaded about love in real life and onscreen. However, a meeting with photographer Michele Singer on the set of When Harry Met Sally... offered a new perspective—and helped turn the romantic comedy into a modern classic.
The unique love story of Reiner, 78, and Singer, 70, is back in the spotlight following their shocking deaths on Sunday, December 14. According to CNN, Reiner and Singer were found inside their Brentwood home as part of an apparent homicide. A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed their son Nick Reiner, 32, was taken into custody as a suspect in the case and is being held on $4 million bail.
Rob Reiner rose to fame in the early and mid-1970s on the groundbreaking TV sitcom All in the Family, earning two Primetime Emmy Awards for his role as Michael “Meathead” Stivic. By the following decade, he pivoted to the director’s chair and showed off his comedic sensibilities at the helm of the music mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and the more dramatic The Sure Thing (1985) and The Princess Bride (1987).
Then Reiner began work on When Harry Met Sally... (1989), the rom-com that introduced him to Singer and changed the course of their lives.
Rob Reiner met Michele Singer while filming When Harry Met Sally...
When Harry Met Sally..., starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, documents the relationship of the titular couple over 12 years and a series of chance encounters.
The movie extensively drew from Reiner’s personal life, including his divorce from first wife Penny Marshall in 1981. Writer Nora Ephron began writing the When Harry Met Sally... screenplay following a lunch meeting with Reiner and producer Andrew Scheinman, during which they shared personal anecdotes about dating as a single man. “She interviewed us like a journalist, got all these thoughts down, and that became the basis for Harry, and she became the basis for Sally,” Reiner recalled.
The film’s famous scene at Katz’s Delicatessen (“I’ll have what she’s having!") also marked a turning point for Reiner. According to reporter Jane Boursaw, cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld introduced Reiner to photographer Michele Singer as the shoot progressed. Thinking the pair could make a great couple, Sonnenfeld set up a double date that highlighted their blunt communication style.
“You know, you really shouldn’t smoke. It’s not good for your health,” Reiner told Singer of her cigarette habit, according to Sonnenfeld.
“And you shouldn’t be so f—ing fat,” Singer replied.
Despite their quips, the pair indeed hit it off, fundamentally changing the movie.
Reiner’s relationship with Singer convinced him to change the ending of When Harry Met Sally...
Although the movie concludes on a happy note, with Harry professing his love for Sally on New Year’s Eve, the first ending was much more cynical—reflecting the initial conversations between Reiner and writer Ephron.
“The original ending of the film that we had was that Harry and Sally didn’t get together,” Reiner told Chris Wallace in 2024. “I had been married for 10 years, I had been single for 10 years and I couldn’t figure out how I was ever going to be with anybody, and that gave birth to When Harry Met Sally.... I hadn’t met anybody, and so it was going to be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking, and then walking away from each other.”
When Reiner got to know Singer, however, he changed his mind about love. “But then I met Michele and I thought: OK, I see how this works,” Reiner told The Guardian in 2018, ultimately changing the final scenes.
Mirroring the new ending, Reiner and Singer married in May 1989 and had three children: sons Jake, 34, and Nick, 32, and daughter Romy, 28.
Singer, also known for taking President Donald Trump’s photo for the 1987 cover of his book Trump: The Art of the Deal, worked with Reiner on other movie projects. She served as a special photographer for Misery (1990) and producer for his final film, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025).
Reiner and Singer had a tenuous relationship with son Nick Reiner
Reiner and Singer have been candid about their relationship with their son Nick Reiner during his battle with drug addiction.
According to PEOPLE, Nick attended rehab 17 times, starting at age 15, and experienced multiple stints of homelessness in Maine, New Jersey, and Texas. “That made me who I am now, having to deal with that stuff,” Nick told the magazine in 2016. “...Now, I’ve been home for a really long time, and I’ve sort of gotten acclimated back to being in Los Angeles and being around my family. But there was a lot of dark years there.”
Rob and Nick Reiner appeared to reconcile some of their differences through the 2015 movie Being Charlie, for which Nick co-wrote the screenplay partially based on his own experiences. Rob revealed some of his regrets about their relationship in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
“When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen. We were desperate and because the people had diplomas on their wall, we listened to them when we should have been listening to our son,” Rob Reiner said.
“We were so influenced by these people. They would tell us he’s a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them,” Singer added.
Rob Reiner’s oldest daughter Tracy said she had the “greatest family ever”
Reiner spoke about the positive effect Singer had on his life in a 2014 interview with AARP. “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,” he said.
News of Reiner and Singer’s deaths on Sunday sparked tributes from prominent friends of the couple, including actors Corey Feldman, Cary Elwes, and Michael Douglas, and author Stephen King.
Rob’s eldest daughter, Tracy Reiner, whom he adopted during his first marriage to Penny Marshall, offered a statement to NBC News. “I came from the greatest family ever,” Tracy, 61, said. “I don’t know what to say, I’m in shock.”
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
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