Alanna Zabel, a yoga instructor and wellness expert who led private sessions for the late Rob and Michele Reiner and their children in the early 2000s, says the couple were devoted parents doing everything they could. Their deaths on Sunday, Dec. 14, she says, were “shocking.”
Nick, now 32, “was notorious” for making sessions with his mother difficult, Zabel recalls. “We never could get through one single yoga session without Nicky barging in and having an intense issue or meltdown, and it would really break up the flow of a yoga class.”
Rob, 78, and Michele, 70, were found dead in their Los Angeles home on Sunday. Nick was soon arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with his parents’ deaths. Their other children, Jake and Romy, spoke out about the “horrific and devastating loss” in a statement shared on Wednesday, Dec. 17. “Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day.”
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After years of group lessons, Rob and Michele asked Zabel to teach Nick privately. She says the goal was to help him calm down and better channel his energy. Over time, she saw progress in those one-on-one sessions—progress that later inspired her to write the first of several children’s books, A Chair in the Air. The story features an overly energetic character named Nicky who, as Zabel has explained, “learns how to regulate his emotions a little bit more and just to be more accountable for his behaviors.”
Zabel describes Nick’s childhood challenges as “a perfect storm… one of those things where, as hard as they tried to manage it, get help, address it, it’s just beyond any of us to be able to diffuse.”
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She also remembers Michele as a “very, very passionate” mother. “She lived for those kids… She was just very gracious and lovely,” Zabel says.
Nick appeared in court on Wednesday, Dec. 17, when his lawyer, Alan Jackson, declined to enter a plea on his behalf. The Being Charlie screenwriter’s arraignment will continue Jan. 7.
In a separate account, another person close to the family said they “could never reach stability” when it came to Nick’s issues. “They tried everything — giving him space, keeping him close — but his struggles are so deep… They were such lovely people and tried in every way to help their son.”
