Toukie Smith, the model and actress who dated Robert De Niro over 30 years ago, has died. She was 74.
Toukie died Nov. 4 after a “long, courageous battle” with multiple sclerosis, her and De Niro’s twins, Airyn and Julian, confirmed to Page Six on Monday.
The siblings, both 31, said in a statement that their mom “shared in a remarkable family legacy that helped shape American fashion and culture.”
They also said Toukie’s “beauty, grace and unmistakable presence helped pave the way for generations of Black models and designers in fashion.”
“Toukie was a force of nature. She left an indelible mark on our hearts and on everyone lucky enough to know her,” their statement concluded.
Airyn also mourned Toukie’s death on Instagram, sharing a throwback photo of the two and writing, “I’ll always love you, Mom 🩷.”
Page Six has reached out to De Niro’s rep for comment.
Toukie was born Doris A. Smith in Philadelphia on Sept. 25, 1952. She later took on the stage name Toukie, which came from her grandmother.
“It was a nickname my grandmother gave me that came from a children’s record about a little red fire engine with lots of energy. I’ve always had lots of energy,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1990.
After attending the Fashion Institute of Technology, Toukie began her modeling career in 1972, appearing in Vogue, Ebony, Cosmopolitan, Redbook and Seventeen.
She also modeled for designers including Hubert de Givenchy, Thierry Mugler, Issey Miyake and her brother, fashion designer Willi Smith, who died of complications from AIDS at age 39 in 1987.
In 1978, Bloomingdale’s named Toukie model of the year.
In the 1980s, Toukie pivoted her career to acting, landing a recurring role as Don Johnson’s onscreen wife in “Miami Vice.”
However, Toukie was best known for her role as Eva Rawley on the NBC sitcom “227,” starring alongside Marla Gibbs for the show’s final season from 1989 to 1990.
After “227” ended, Toukie appeared in the 1990s films “Talkin’ Dirty After Dark,” “I Like It Like That,” “Joe’s Apartment” and “The Preacher’s Wife.”
Toukie admitted that she found it hard to break through in Hollywood.
“Everybody has to get it right. I am an actress first. I’m not a sometime model,” she told the New York Times in 1992.
“I had a contract with NBC for ‘227.’ I did ‘Miami Vice.’ I did three different movies that I was cut out of. I thought modeling was rough with rejection. Huh! Welcome to the real world of acting!”
Toukie also opened up an eponymous restaurant on West Houston Street in New York City. It closed after two years in 1996.
Toukie and De Niro dated from 1988 to 1996. They welcomed their twins via surrogate one year before they broke up.
She told the LA Times about their romance in 1990, “What’s great about a private life is it’s private.”
De Niro has five more children with three other women, including his current partner, Tiffany Chen, 46.
