De Niro Not Child’s Father, Tests Show
Blood tests have determined that actor Robert De Niro is not the biological father of a 10-year-old Sherman Oaks girl whose mother filed a paternity suit against him, the woman’s lawyer said Friday.
But attorney Marvin Mitchelson said Helena Lisandrello, a 31-year-old nightclub singer, will continue to seek tuition and other payments from De Niro because he had accepted the girl as his daughter and supported her for a long time.
Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner James Endman is scheduled to decide next month whether to order De Niro to continue to pay the girl’s school tuition of nearly $1,000 a month and $2,500 a month in support pending a trial of the lawsuit filed Aug. 6.
“The blood tests came back negative for De Niro. . . He is not the girl’s biological father,” Mitchelson said. “But we’re claiming he is the father by (legal principle).”
Mitchelson said Lisandrello met the Academy Award-winning actor at a party in March, 1979, and that they had a three-year relationship.
Neither De Niro nor his attorney could be reached for comment.
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