How Rob Reiner's Wife Changed the Ending of ‘When Harry Met Sally…’

Hollywood is reeling from the news that the bodies of legendary director Rob Reiner, 78, and his photographer-producer wife Michele, 68, were found at the couple’s mansion in Los Angeles’ ritzy Brentwood neighborhood. 

On December 14, TMZ reported that the Los Angeles Fire Department was called to the Reiners’ home at approximately 3:30 p.m. PT, where they found the bodies of two individuals. Less than an hour later, the victims were confirmed to be the This Is Spinal Tapdirector and his wife of nearly 40 years. As the victims had lacerations consistent with knife wounds, the LAPD’s Robbery Homicide division is currently investigating the matter. 

Though the Reiners’ death is like something out of a Hollywood thriller, their romance blossomed because of a beloved rom-com. Rob met Michele while making the 1989 classic When Harry Met Sally… Michele was a photographer and occasional actress, and they met on a double date arranged by the movie’s cinematographer, Barry Sonnenfeld. 

How Did Michele Reiner Inspire When Harry Met Sally…?

While When Harry Met Sally… (spoiler alert!) ends with the eponymous best friends finding love together, the original ending wasn’t as happy. “It was going to be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking and then walking away from each other,” Reiner told CNN’s Chris Wallace in 2024. In many ways, this not-so-happy ending was truer to Reiner’s own experiences in love.

“I had been married for 10 years. I’d been single for 10 years, and I couldn’t figure out how I was ever going to be with anybody, and that gave birth to When Harry Met Sally…,” Reiner said.

But meeting Michele changed all that.

“I met my wife Michele, who I’ve been married to now 35 years,” Reiner continued. “I met her while we were making the film, and I changed the ending.”

Did Rob Reiner Have Any Children?

Michele Reiner worked with her husband several times following their marriage. In 1990, she acted as a special photographer on Misery. She also produced some of Rob’s directorial efforts, including Shock and Awe (2017), Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (2023), this summer’s Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, 

The couple is survived by their three children, Jake, Nick and Romy; Reiner also has a 61-year-old daughter Tracy, from his first marriage to the late actress-director Penny Marshall, which lasted from 1971 to 1981.