New York, Dec 6 (IANS) Robert De Niro refused to attend a ceremony in his honour at the White House unless all his five children were allowed to join him.
The Oscar winner will be toasted at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony Sunday and he wanted to make it a family affair by taking his wife Grace Hightower, their ten-year-old son; his 13-year-old twin sons with ex Toukie Smith; his 33-year-old son with Diahnne Abbott and their adopted daughter, reports contactmusic.com.

And he admits it was a struggle convincing White House staff to allow access to the whole De Niro clan.

“Well it’s an honour, of course, and I’m taking all the kids and family. I’ve been going through a lot of problems trying to get them into the White House to meet Obama so I said (to the ceremony officials), ‘Just get the kids in.’ That’s the bottom line,” De Niro said.