Billy Crystal revealed that he still feels the urge to call his friend Rob Reiner, 10 months after the filmmaker and his wife Michele were murdered.
The Reiners were found stabbed to death December 14, 2025 at their $13.5 million Brentwood estate, where their son Nick lived in the guesthouse.
Nick, 32, who had a history of substance abuse and was also reportedly diagnosed with schizophrenia, has pled not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and is being held in solitary confinement as he awaits trial.
Now Crystal has shared that after he finished the first run-through of his upcoming one-man show on Broadway, his mind turned instantly to Reiner, via People.
'I felt so good. And my first thought was: "I’ve got to call Rob,"' he said. 'I don’t know if I don’t want that to keep happening or I do want it to keep happening…I don’t know.'
The two men enjoyed a personal and professional bond of nearly half a century, most famously resulting in the 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally..., starring Crystal as a character based on Reiner, the director.
Billy Crystal revealed that he still feels the urge to call his friend Rob Reiner, 10 months after the filmmaker and his wife Michele were murdered; Reiner and Crystal pictured in 2019
The Reiners, pictured in 2013, were found stabbed to death December 14, 2025 at their $13.5 million Brentwood estate, where their son Nick lived in the guesthouse
Crystal is preparing for the October 21 opening of his play 860, named after the street number of the Pacific Palisades home he lost to last year's Los Angeles fires.
Before his death, Reiner 'encouraged' Crystal to pursue the project and helped him narrow the title down to 860, according to the 78-year-old funnyman.
Their friendship dated back to 1976, when Crystal performed a stand-up set at The Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip in front of an audience that included Reiner's comedy icon father Carl Reiner and All in the Family creator Norman Lear.
Lear introduced himself to Crystal that night and rang him two weeks later, offering him a guest-shot on All in the Family as the best friend of Reiner's character.
'I think you and Robbie will be great together,' Lear told Crystal, igniting the match of a rapport that lasted until Reiner was killed 49 years later.
On their first meeting, Reiner instantly struck Crystal as 'tall' and 'in charge,' on top of which Crystal 'could see right away how he worked with the great writers.'
He recalled: 'We just met and he said: "Billy, what do you think we should do here?" And then so many times, we couldn’t keep a straight face during the tapings. And then it continued and we moved to California and then we were just inseparable.'
Crystal reflected: 'Chemistry like that, it’s undefinable sometimes. I knew it from the first week that this is going to be a forever thing. It’s not something you can define and that makes the loss even more profound.'
Their son Nick, 32, who had a history of substance abuse and was also reportedly diagnosed with schizophrenia, has pled not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder
Reiner directed Crystal (left) and Meg Ryan (right) in the classic 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally..., which the trio are pictured working on
Now Crystal has shared that after he finished the first run-through of his upcoming one-man show on Broadway, his mind turned instantly to Reiner; the pair pictured in 2014
Elements of Crystal and Reiner's real connection also seeped into When Harry Met Sally..., on which the director worked closely with screenwriter Nora Ephron.
'Rob was going through a divorce from Penny Marshall and he was really going through some difficult times,' Crystal explained. 'And we would be on the phone constantly at night. And I’d get a call like in the moment in Harry and Sally, they’re watching Casablanca together. That was stuff we did.'
Crystal led the star-studded memorial tribute to Reiner at this year's Oscars, amid a lineup that included his When Harry Met Sally... leading lady Meg Ryan.
Along with Nick, the Reiners were parents to a son called Jake, 35, and a daughter called Romy, 28, while Rob Reiner also served as the adoptive father of Tracy, 62, the daughter of his first wife Marshall.
Reports have claimed Romy, who lived across the street from her parents, was the one who found their bodies in December and then allegedly told police about a 'dangerous' family member who 'should be a suspect.'
Nick was reportedly seen arguing fiercely with his parents at Conan O'Brien's star-studded Christmas party on the evening before the bodies were discovered.
A source close to the Reiner family informed the Daily Mail in July that Nick had been 'rapidly deteriorating' in custody and had become 'like a babbling child, totally out of it,' to the extent that 'his lawyers have a hard time talking to him.'
He had no personal visitors other than his lawyers until that month, when he was met by someone a source described as 'a relative' in the presence of his attorney.
At first, Nick's counsel was the top-flight lawyer Alan Jackson, who successfully prosecuted Phil Spector for murder, and who in private practice as a defense attorney has represented Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein.
When he was asked who was paying his fees to represent Nick, Jackson replied: 'I can't comment.'
However on January 7, Jackson withdrew from the case, citing 'circumstances beyond our control' and 'beyond Nick's control,' and the accused is now being represented by public defender Kimberly Greene.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced on September 15 that his office 'will not be seeking the death penalty in this case.'