The King of Comedy (film) character fails to differentiate between his fantasies and reality in much the same way. Scorsese sought to achieve the same with the film so that, in his words, the "fantasy is more real than reality". Rupert Pupkin has been compared to Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver": both characters have serious issues with reality testing, that is drawing the line between outer objective and inner subjective reality. In her review, entertainment columnist Marilyn Beck approved Johnny Carson's refusal to participate in "The King of Comedy", supposedly because he feared the film could inspire psychopaths like John Hinckley. Beck considered "The King
Robert De Niro a previous relationship. They divorced in 1988. De Niro has twin sons, Julian and Aaron, conceived by "in vitro" fertilization and delivered by a surrogate mother in 1995, from a long relationship with former model Toukie Smith. In 1997, De Niro married his second wife, actress Grace Hightower. Their son Elliot was born in 1998 and the couple split in 1999. The divorce was never finalized and in 2004 they renewed their vows. In December 2011, a daughter named Helen Grace was born via surrogate. In addition to his six children, De Niro has four grandchildren; his daughter Drena has