Robert De Niro's girlfriend reveals Bell's palsy diagnosis after daughter’s birth: 'My face was melting'

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The world was shocked when Robert De Niro inadvertently announced the birth of his seventh child with partner Tiffany Chen in May, just months shy of his 80th birthday.

Now, in a revealing new interview, Chen is disclosing the surprising diagnosis she received after giving birth to their daughter, Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro: Bell's palsy.

"I started to feel like, my tongue felt strange. It felt like a little tingly, just starting to get a little bit numb, and then I realized my face – my face just felt weird. I didn't know what the feeling was that I was having," she explained in a Thursday preview of her interview with Gayle King on "CBS Mornings."

"When I got home, it was like everything was starting to just fall down on itself," she explained. "Like my face was melting on itself. And then a week after giving birth, that was when it all hit, and I called my doctor."

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Tiffany Chen says she developed Bell's palsy after giving birth to her daughter with Robert De Niro. (Angela Weiss/AFP)

Chen, who is a martial arts instructor and kickboxer, remembered a moment when a rudimentary task became difficult.

"I was trying to eat, I went to put just a fork of food in my mouth, and everything came out. I couldn't eat, and then I was starting to slur. So I said, 'There's something really going on here.'"

Tiffany Chen spoke in detail about the impact Bell's palsy had on her body following the birth of her daughter Gia. (Gail Schulman/CBS)

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Taken straight to the hospital and admitted as a patient, Chen shared, "I lost all facial function. The minute I got into the hospital."

Chen's full interview will air Friday.

Robert De Niro has been linked to Tiffany Chen since 2021. (Gary Gershoff/David M. Benett/Arnold Jerocki)

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De Niro and Chen first connected in 2015, on the set of his film "The Intern." She was photographed teaching him and Anne Hathaway tai chi. Although they met on set, they did not begin dating until several years later.

Robert De Niro was photographed on the set of his 2015 film "The Intern," getting tai chi lessons from Tiffany Chen, left. (Alamy)

An early inclination of romance came in 2021, when De Niro was pictured celebrating his 78th birthday in the south of France with Chen.

De Niro's previous six children are with three different women.

He shares daughter Drena, 51, and son Raphael, 46, with his ex-wife Diahnne Abbott, to whom he was married from 1976-1988. He adopted Drena while married to Abbott. 

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Robert De Niro has seven children. (Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images)

Earlier this month, Drena's son Leandro tragically passed away at 19.

"I’m deeply distressed by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo," De Niro said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital, at the time. "We’re greatly appreciative of the condolences from everyone. We ask that we please be given privacy to grieve our loss of Leo."

Drena also shared her grief in a statement to Fox News Digital, "It is with immeasurable shock and sadness that we say goodbye to our beloved son Leo. We thank you for the outpouring of love and support and ask that we are given privacy at this time to process this inconsolable grief." 

Drena and her son Leandro had acted in major pictures together, including "A Star is Born." (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Amazon Studios)

De Niro shares twin sons Julian and Aaron, 27, with ex Toukie Smith, as well as Elliot, 24, and Helen Grace, 11, with his second ex-wife, Grace Hightower. The two were married from 1997-2018, ending their relationship in a contentious divorce.