Rob and Michele Reiner Are ‘Holding Hands Forever,’ Says Longtime Friend: ‘It Soothes My Heart’ (Exclusive)
- - Rob and Michele Reiner Are ‘Holding Hands Forever,’ Says Longtime Friend: ‘It Soothes My Heart’ (Exclusive)
Sean MandellDecember 31, 2025 at 2:34 AM
0
Neda Soderqvist
From L: Neda Soderqvist, Rob Reiner, Romy Reiner and Michele Reiner -
A longtime friend of Rob and Michele Reiner tells PEOPLE the late couple were “inseparable” throughout their 36-year marriage and remained deeply devoted to one another until the end
Neda Soderqvist, a celebrity fitness trainer who has known the Reiner family for 15 years, says she is comforted knowing that “Rob and Michele are holding hands forever”
Rob and Michele Reiner died at their Los Angeles home on Dec. 14; their 32-year-old son Nick has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with their deaths
A close friend of Rob and Michele Reiner is paying tribute to the late couple and sharing how she is coping after their deaths.
Neda Soderqvist, a celebrity fitness trainer who has known the Reiner family for 15 years, tells PEOPLE that losing Rob and Michele “was probably the worst experience I've ever encountered because I don't think I've ever felt that [kind of] loss.”
Learning that Rob and Michele's bodies had been found inside the Reiner family’s Los Angeles home on Sunday, Dec. 14, left Soderqvist struggling to comprehend that her friends could have died. “The feeling was unimaginable,” she says. “I honestly couldn't even put it together in my brain.”
When Soderqvist's husband told her the ages of the people police had discovered inside the residence, reality — and shock — set in. “I just ... I plopped down and I think I might've said, ‘No,’” she recalls. “That's all I kept saying — ‘No, no, no, no.’”
Neda Soderqvist
Neda Soderqvist (L) and Michele Reiner (R)
In the weeks since the couple died, Soderqvist has been coping with her grief by focusing on the love Rob and Michele shared throughout their life together.
“The one thing that is getting me through this, honestly, is I can tell you that if one of them went, the other one would have left a few weeks after from a broken heart because they are inseparable,” she says.
“One of the things that I tell God and I feel okay in my heart is that they're together. That's the only thing that can get you past this, is that Rob and Michele are holding hands forever,” Soderqvist adds. “Even at the end of their life, they left together … It soothes my heart.”
Soderqvist, who became close with the Reiner family after she began training Michele 15 years ago, says the couple’s love remained undiminished throughout their 36-year marriage.
“They were exactly as if they had just met,” she says. “Every time they left my studio, they held hands.”
Of Rob, Soderqvist adds, “The love that that man had for her, oh my Lord. I mean. Everyone should have something like that in their lives. And so they were inseparable. They went everywhere together, everywhere.”
Michele “was a huge part of Rob,” Soderqvist says. “He really respected his wife.”
Reflecting on the couple’s legacy, Soderqvist hopes they will be remembered not for the tragedy surrounding their deaths, but for who they were.
“They're going to be known as a mother and father who were amazing people,” she says. “And that's what I want them to be remembered by. Not this tragedy, but who they were as people.”
Neda Soderqvist
Neda Soderqvist (L) and Michele Reiner (R)
She also points to their generosity. “I just want people to know that they would still today give the shirt off their back to their kids, to us, to anyone,” Soderqvist says.
As the Reiners' family, friends and fans continue to mourn, Soderqvist believes Rob and Michele “would tell every one of us” to “keep loving — showing unconditional love to your people, and not just financially, but emotionally, spiritually, your time.”
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Rob and Michele met while he was directing When Harry Met Sally and married in 1989. They shared three children — Nick, Romy and Jake. Rob also adopted his daughter Tracy during his first marriage to Penny Marshall.
The couple's official death certificates state that Rob, 78, and Michele, 70, died of “multiple sharp force injuries” caused “with [a] knife, by another.” The manner of death was listed as homicide.
Their 32-year-old son, Nick, is facing two counts of first-degree murder in connection with their deaths. He is being held without bail.
Information about a memorial service honoring Rob and Michele will be shared “at a later date,” a spokesperson for Romy and Jake said on Dec. 22.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
