Robert DeNiro, Grace Hightower ending their marriage, reports say

Have screen legend Robert De Niro and his wife of 21 years, Grace Hightower, separated?

The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday said it had confirmed an anonymously sourced claim on Tuesday that two-time Academy Award-winner De Niro, 75, and philanthropist and entrepreneur Hightower, in her early 60s, were no longer together. The couple married on June 17, 1997, and have two children, son Elliot, 20, and daughter Helen, who turns 7 next month and was birthed through a surrogate mother.

The office of De Niro's spokesman was closed ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday and no confirmation was available.

De Niro had filed for divorce from Hightower in June 1999, but the two remained on good terms and the petition was withdrawn. The couple renewed their vows in November 2004. According to reports at the time, the ceremony took place at De Niro's Ulster County farm with guests who included Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Ben Stiller and Tom Brokaw.

Hightower, who in her 20s had been a flight attendant for TWA and later lived in Paris, was working as a restaurant manager in London in 1987 when she and De Niro met at a nightclub. She recalled in 2013 of their early relationship, "It was an ease-in. It wasn't a whirlwind."

Her philanthropic causes have included the Fund for Public Schools, for which she has been a board member, and her business ventures include the Fair Trade coffee company Coffee by Grace, which helps support a Rwandan agricultural collective.

De Niro previously was married to actress Diahnne Abbott from 1976 until their divorce in 1988. The year they wed he adopted Abbott's 5-year-old daughter, Drena, who as actress Drena De Niro has had a lengthy film career including a role in the recent "A Star Is Born." Robert De Niro and Abbott also have a son, New York real estate executive Raphael De Niro, who is in his early 40s.

The actor additionally has twin sons, Julian and Aaron, 23, with his partner from the late 1980s to mid-1990s, Toukie Smith, the model-actress sister of the late fashion designer Willi Smith.

De Niro has turned in indelible performances in films including "The Godfather: Part II" (1974), "Taxi Driver" (1976), "The Deer Hunter" (1978), "Raging Bull" (1980), "Midnight Run" (1988) and numerous others including "Joy" (2015), about Long Island entrepreneur Joy Mangano, and Martin Scorsese's upcoming "The Irishman," which was filmed at various Long Island locations.