AN ANOMALY! –
Dec. 18, 2025 – Nick Reiner, 32, struggled with drug addiction for nearly two decades, something he and his family shared with the public. This week, he was charged with murder in the death of his parents, the director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.
His ordeal, and its impact on his parents and family, has resonated with millions of people, including Pattie Vargas..Her daughter isolated herself and lived on the streets while battling addiction to alcohol and drugs. Her son developed a heart condition from drug use and died of heart failure in 2017 while intoxicated, just one month shy of turning 36. “As a parent, I would have cut off both my arms to save my kids,” said Ms. Vargas, of Vacaville, Calif. She took out a second mortgage and eventually lost her home covering treatment costs, she said. “This is a health crisis. It’s not a moral failing, it’s not a family screw-up. It’s an illness.”
