More than 600 people attended the gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where the Children’s Institute raised a record-breaking $4 million while honoring the Reiners’ lives and contributions. O’Brien said the organization, which the couple cared deeply about, gives their friends a way to stay connected to them.
“This event, something that they cared about so much, the Children’s Institute, is just a way to imagine and realize that they’re here and they’re working,” he said. He added that continuing the work they began was a way to keep them close: “They started something, and we keep them with us. We keep them close if we join in and do the work because that’s what they were all about.”
O’Brien has also spoken about the public attention surrounding his connection to the couple. Rob and Michele had attended his holiday gathering shortly before they were found dead. In March, he told The Hollywood Reporter that any difficulties he and his wife faced because of the attention were “nothing compared to the scale of the tragedy for the family and the loss of Rob and Michele.” He added that, for him, “there is only sadness that they’re gone.”
The loss also shaped O’Brien’s work as host of the 98th Academy Awards. On March 12, he told Extra the ceremony would include a tribute to Rob, calling it “a very powerful part of the show.” The March 15 ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood featured an expanded In Memoriam segment. Billy Crystal led the onstage tribute with actors who had worked with the filmmaker, remembering both Rob and Michele and saying, “Their loss is immeasurable.”
In a February interview with The New Yorker, O’Brien recalled growing closer to the couple and the shock of learning they had died after saying good night to them. He said he was “in shock for quite a while afterward.” He also remembered Rob’s willingness to speak out about issues affecting the country, saying it was hard to comprehend that “that voice” had gone quiet so suddenly.
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