Nick Reiner Said He Became Addicted to Heroin After Being Sent to Rehab at 16

Nick Reiner, who now faces charges in connection with the deaths of his parents, previously spoke publicly about how his struggle with heroin addiction began during his teenage years. In a resurfaced podcast interview from 2016, Reiner said his first exposure to hard drugs came only after his parents enrolled him in a wilderness-based rehabilitation program when he was 16 years old.

Nick Reiner once admitted he got hooked on heroin only after his parents put him in a ritzy rehab facility in the Utah wilderness when he was just 16.Source: BACKGRID

Reiner, the son of acclaimed filmmaker Rob Reiner and producer Michele Singer Reiner, described his experience during an appearance on the Dopey podcast. In the interview, he recalled attending a New Age, nature-based treatment facility in Utah designed for teenagers dealing with behavioral and substance-related issues.

According to Reiner, it was during this program that he met another teen who would later play a significant role in his drug use. He explained that although he was young at the time, the relationships he formed in rehab exposed him to substances he had not previously encountered.

“I met him when I was 16,” Reiner said during the podcast. “When I was 18, I was in sober living, and I called him up because I knew he was really into heroin at the time.”

Reiner stated that he later accompanied the individual to Los Angeles’ Skid Row, where he used heroin for the first time. Reflecting on the experience, he said the exposure he received during his early rehabilitation years ultimately led him down a more destructive path.

“The seed of heroin got planted the first time I was ever in rehab,” Reiner said, adding that the person who introduced him to the drug was someone he had met years earlier while in treatment.

The wilderness program Reiner referenced is part of a broader category of nature-based therapy facilities, which aim to help teens by removing them from their daily environments and placing them in structured outdoor settings. These programs typically serve adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 and focus on discipline, reflection, and group-based therapy.

Rob Reiner, Michele Singer, Romy Reiner, Nick Reiner, Maria Gilfillan and Jake Reiner at “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” Los Angeles premiere at the Egyptian Theatre on Sept. 9, 2025, in Los Angeles, California.Variety via Source: Getty Images

Reiner has publicly acknowledged battling substance abuse for more than half of his life. He has also stated that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and has been in and out of numerous rehabilitation and treatment facilities since his mid-teens. Reports indicate that he had been receiving intensive mental health and substance abuse treatment in Los Angeles in the period leading up to his parents’ deaths.

The podcast interview resurfaced following Reiner’s arrest in December, after authorities charged him in connection with the fatal stabbings of his parents at their home. The investigation remains ongoing, and Reiner has not been convicted of the charges.

The resurfaced remarks have drawn renewed attention to the long and complex history of addiction and mental health struggles that Reiner himself previously described — years before the current legal case unfolded.