Model and actress Toukie Smith has died at the age of 74 following a long battle with multiple sclerosis.
Smith, who is known for her role on the NBC sitcom 227, passed away on November 4 in a New York hospital.
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Her adult children, Airyn and Julian De Niro – who she shared with her former partner Robert De Niro – confirmed the sad news with The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, saying she died following a “long, courageous battle” with the neurological disorder.
Airyn, 31, also mourned the loss on social media with a throwback photo of herself and her mother.
“I’ll always love you, Mom,” she captioned the post.
She shared the photo on her Instagram Story as well, writing, “Rest in peace, Mom.”
Smith was born Doris Smith but she later took on Toukie Smith as her stage name – a moniker that was inspired by 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,” she told the Los Angeles Times in a 1990 interview. “I’ve always had lots of energy.”
After attending the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Smith began modelling in 1972 for magazines such as Vogue and lifestyle title Ebony.
She went on to model for the likes of Hubert de Givenchy, Thierry Mugler and Issey Miyake, and was named Bloomingdale’s model of the year in 1978.
Smith also modelled for her fashion designer brother Willi Smith, who died in 1987 at age 39 of complications from AIDS.
By the late 80s, Smith shifted her focus to acting, scoring a recurring role on Miami Vice as Angie, who was the assistant of Sheena Easton’s pop singer character Caitlin Davies. Caitlin was the wife of Don Johnson’s lead character, Sonny Crockett.
In 1989, she joined the cast of the sitcom 227 before appearing in a string of 90s film’s, including Talkin’ Dirty After Dark, I Like It Like That and The Preacher’s Wife.
Smith met De Niro in 1988 at the height of her acting career – the same year he split from actress Diahnne Abbott after 12 years of marriage.
As per The New Yorker, Smith and De Niro’s relationship was on-and-off, with the two said to split in 1994 before getting back together and welcoming their twins in October 1995 via surrogate.
The couple kept their relationship private and rarely spoke about it in interviews.
“What’s great about a private life is it’s private,” Smith previously told the Los Angeles Times.
De Niro, now 83, has seven children in total from four different relationships, with the actor welcoming his youngest child in 2023, aged 79.