Flaawsome Talk with Kjersti Flaa - December 19, 2025


This changes everything - the Reiner murders


Episode Stats

Length

14 minutes

Words per Minute

175.17792

Word Count

2,519

Sentence Count

157

Misogynist Sentences

2


Summary

In this episode, I talk about who is paying for Nick Reiner's defense, why he is getting a new lawyer, and what we know about the circumstances leading up to the murders of his parents. I also have a conversation with someone who used to work for the Reiner family.


Transcript

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00:00:22.840 I also had a very long conversation this morning with someone who used to work for the Reiner's family.
00:00:35.420 Hi and welcome to Flossom Talk. I'm Jashti Flo, a journalist, Hollywood truth teller, and your voice of reason in a town built on the illusion.
00:00:42.760 First of all, thank you to everyone who reached out to me and shared some of their stories.
00:00:48.200 Some people also have family members who are struggling with mental illness.
00:00:53.420 And it's been so eye-opening for me to see and to read your stories.
00:00:58.400 So thank you from the bottom of my heart for trusting me with your stories.
00:01:02.320 And I think for everyone it's so important to try to understand that this is not a very simple case of someone who just killed their parents.
00:01:12.820 If you've followed me for the last couple of days, you know that I've been really interested in this case.
00:01:17.500 I usually have Magnus here next to me, but today I'm doing this on my own.
00:01:21.940 So please be patient with me while I go through some of this stuff that I found really traumatizing to talk about.
00:01:28.500 I also had a very long conversation this morning with someone who used to work for the Reiner's family back in the 90s, right after Nick was born.
00:01:39.120 And that person told me some things that I want to share here, but I'm not sure exactly how to share it yet.
00:01:46.220 I've been thinking about this all morning, but I do think it is important information that we should also take into consideration while we're talking about this case.
00:01:55.660 Also, there is a new news article out there about who is paying for Nick's defense in this case.
00:02:02.420 And some people are really upset that he's getting this really skilled defense attorney.
00:02:07.900 I'll talk a little bit about my feelings around that.
00:02:10.540 And more footage is coming out also from Nick's own YouTube channel that can explain some of his weird behavior.
00:02:18.620 I also received an email from someone who said that they worked 12 years in law enforcement.
00:02:22.820 And they said that almost all stabbing include injuries to the person stabbing them.
00:02:29.940 Knives slip when covered in blood and they slice themselves accidentally.
00:02:34.940 That could account for the access blood in motel.
00:02:38.580 Blood stained are not bright red and easy to ignore depending on color of clothing.
00:02:44.300 And his was dark.
00:02:46.280 Thank you for that.
00:02:47.480 If you listen to my episode yesterday, I was talking about this and how the people working in that hotel in Santa Monica where Nick went after or before, I think after probably at this point, the stabbing that there was so much blood there.
00:03:02.200 And this might explain why that he probably had cut himself as well.
00:03:07.840 These are details we don't know yet.
00:03:09.580 These are speculations.
00:03:10.740 I have to say that.
00:03:11.640 But I think that sounds reasonable, especially from someone who's worked in law enforcement for so long.
00:03:17.400 And there's some more interview footage from when he was promoting the movie he did with his dad, Rob, and looking at them together and hearing his struggles kind of put things in a little different perspective for me again.
00:03:32.340 So please stay with me here.
00:03:33.940 First, I wanted to go through this article in TMZ saying that Nick did not get kicked out of his house before this happened because there's been a lot of speculation if Nick actually was kicked out of the house after what happened at this party, at Conan O'Brien's holiday party on Saturday.
00:03:51.960 And some people said maybe, you know, that he got kicked out of the house after that argument.
00:03:56.000 And then he came back and did this to his parents.
00:03:59.560 Now, a source close to the family here is saying that that's not what happened.
00:04:03.060 And they did not kick him out of the house.
00:04:05.280 They said that he left on his own accord.
00:04:07.760 We do not know the circumstances under which Nick decided to leave.
00:04:11.360 And a source confirms here that Nick was not mentally sound in the period of time leading up to the murders.
00:04:17.200 A source with direct knowledge tells TMZ Nick's mental instability went beyond consuming illegal substances.
00:04:24.120 We are told prescription drugs messed with his head.
00:04:27.960 Yeah, so the police report that I spoke about yesterday said that he didn't have drugs in his system when they arrested him or when he did this.
00:04:37.160 But he was obviously very messed up.
00:04:39.300 And we don't know at this point if he has even realized what he has done.
00:04:44.800 So as I said, there's a new video that's been circulating, something that Nick uploaded on his own YouTube channel.
00:04:51.020 This was kind of a mockumentary thing I think he did.
00:04:53.880 It was like a creative project.
00:04:55.660 But it also shows some of his disturbing thoughts and some of his ideas that people are reacting to now,
00:05:03.420 saying like, wow, you could see all the signs here that this guy was not well.
00:05:09.260 And he's saying here that he's also talking about his sick thoughts.
00:05:13.960 Sometimes I just come out to gather my sick thoughts.
00:05:21.400 They know that David will go on stage, who has his ways about him.
00:05:28.220 But, you know, they really want to know what's inside.
00:05:30.960 Also, I wanted to mention this article in the Daily Mail, who's talking about Alan Jackson, this defense attorney that Nick has hired and who is actually paying for it.
00:05:44.620 Alan Jackson is one of the most expensive attorneys in the country.
00:05:48.420 And according to this article, he charges about $2,000 an hour.
00:05:52.800 And some people are outraged that he is getting support to hire such an expensive and skilled attorney.
00:06:01.860 And here in this article, it says that it is his family that is backing this up and that is actually paying for this attorney.
00:06:09.220 And it also talks about the estimated fortune of the family, which is worth about $200 million.
00:06:18.080 And who will get this money now?
00:06:20.720 I think that's kind of irrelevant if Nick is going to inherit some money, because at this point we know that Nick is probably never going to be able to come out and live in society again.
00:06:31.200 So if his siblings or if it's in the will that he gets some of this money, what is he going to spend that on if he is in jail or if he is in some facility somewhere?
00:06:42.000 I don't see the reason to speculate in that even.
00:06:46.160 And as I said, some people are really furious that he's getting a great defense attorney.
00:06:52.220 And I don't understand how people can be so insensitive about this, because this is obviously what his family wants.
00:06:58.300 And I think what his family wants is the only thing that matters right now.
00:07:02.160 They want what's best for Nick and what's best for them to be able to live with this tragedy and for people to go out there and attack them and say that, oh, my God, he's going to get out because he will claim insanity and say that he don't remember what he did.
00:07:18.720 And that might be true. But no matter what his punishment will be, I just hope that it will be what's best for the family and for other people to speculate where this money is going.
00:07:31.200 I just like I said, I think it's really insensitive.
00:07:33.300 But according to this article, some of this money will definitely go to some charities because it says here that Rob has always been clear that a lot of his fortune was going to charity.
00:07:44.500 A second family source told the Daily Mail he didn't want his kids to feel like they didn't have to work or find their own way in the world.
00:07:52.140 Obviously, I haven't seen in his will, but I know that a lot of the inheritance is going to go to courses that Rob and Michelle believed in.
00:08:00.520 This isn't a secret. They've said this for years.
00:08:04.000 So now we know that. And he also says here there's plenty of money for his kids.
00:08:07.720 They all get something substantial as well.
00:08:10.980 But Rob and Michelle would do some good for a work in their legacy.
00:08:15.200 I wish I could tell you what they're donating to. I don't know.
00:08:18.800 This person says, I'm sure that Rob and Michelle would want what's best for their son as well,
00:08:24.960 because we know that they supported him throughout their lives and really tried to help him.
00:08:31.240 And I think even after this happened to them, I am sure that they still would love their child
00:08:37.720 and want him to get whatever help he can still and would want to support him in the way that their sibling
00:08:47.220 or someone in the family now has decided to support him.
00:08:51.280 Okay, as I said in the beginning, I wanted to share this information with you.
00:08:55.440 I spoke to a source. I spoke to a person.
00:08:58.260 I'm not going to say if it is a man or a woman.
00:09:00.540 This person didn't want me to reveal that.
00:09:02.840 But this person worked with the family, with Rob and with Michelle in their house,
00:09:08.620 where this happened back in 1993 and 1994, when Nick was just a baby.
00:09:15.600 And this person told me something that I don't know exactly how to put this in a way
00:09:20.800 that doesn't make me look like I point fingers on someone.
00:09:25.240 But I think this information is important.
00:09:28.000 And I think this information will probably come up in trial.
00:09:31.920 So allegedly, I'm going to use that word because I haven't gotten this confirmed by anyone else,
00:09:36.520 but this source yet.
00:09:37.520 But the person said that Michelle was struggling from postpartum while they were working there.
00:09:44.780 And that really affected her.
00:09:47.240 And she kept apologizing for her behavior because of that.
00:09:53.760 Apparently, she was speaking to a therapist at the time.
00:09:57.040 And there were several nannies there to help Michelle out.
00:10:00.100 And I don't know, and I can't speculate if that affected Nick in any way.
00:10:04.440 But I do think that maybe it's information that will add to the layer of how complex this situation really is.
00:10:13.300 And I really try to wrap my head around what makes a person do these sort of things.
00:10:19.020 And I think that's so important here, because if we can start to understand how a brain works
00:10:24.720 when they're capable of doing something like this, we can prevent it from happening in the future.
00:10:29.320 And this person ended up quitting the job.
00:10:32.420 And while I was doing some research on this, I found this article from April of this year
00:10:37.660 when Lisa Rinna, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, was talking about her struggle with postpartum depression.
00:10:48.040 And her husband, Harry Hamlin, said that he recalls that his wife was threatening to kill him at that point.
00:10:55.940 In this article in People Magazine, Rinna keeps talking about how she was hallucinating,
00:11:01.600 how that they had to keep the knives out of the kitchen.
00:11:04.660 She said that she felt absolutely hopeless and she struggled with PPD for 15 months
00:11:09.880 after her and her husband's eldest daughter was born in 1998.
00:11:14.760 And she also said she didn't understand what it was when this happened to her.
00:11:18.780 And I think that's and I think that's the case when this happened to a lot of women.
00:11:22.240 They don't understand, especially when this is supposed to be the happiest time of your life.
00:11:26.540 You just had a child and then you go into this very dark, dark place.
00:11:32.900 She says here, I was having horrible hallucinations of killing people and I needed to take the knives out of the house.
00:11:40.120 And I also had horrible visions of driving the car into a brick wall.
00:11:44.580 She says that looking back, I was completely psychotic and she eventually got prescribed antidepressant
00:11:51.240 and they worked instantly, she said, and it changed the game for her.
00:11:57.840 I also wanted to share some parts of interviews that I found where Nick and Rob are interviewed together,
00:12:04.160 especially this one where Nick talks about his mother
00:12:07.100 and how she is more in touch with her feelings than her father.
00:12:11.960 What about mom?
00:12:12.620 I didn't go to either of them because neither of them believed a word I said,
00:12:16.720 but it was sort of like comforting to talk to her because she was a little bit more in touch with her emotions
00:12:22.500 and how she felt about it.
00:12:24.320 And he was sort of trying to, you know, follow orders, I guess.
00:12:28.600 Yeah, I find that interesting.
00:12:29.840 And also some of the things that they were talking about in this interview
00:12:33.160 where his father said you need to understand where the pain is coming from.
00:12:38.520 I think listen to your kids.
00:12:40.760 Go, you know, try to spend as much time as you can with your kids.
00:12:44.580 Try to understand your kids and don't punish them because, and this is my opinion,
00:12:50.040 in my opinion, the reason they're taking, whether it's drugs or alcohol or gambling,
00:12:55.440 whatever they're doing, they're doing it because there's a pain.
00:12:58.880 There's something inside that's, they don't feel good.
00:13:02.760 They don't feel good about themselves and they're self-medicating.
00:13:05.480 Yeah, we don't know if he would have answered that question differently today.
00:13:09.660 Maybe he would have.
00:13:11.040 And I also thought about the things that Nick was saying in this interview
00:13:14.440 when he described himself as a nutcase.
00:13:18.260 I was crazy, he says.
00:13:20.540 I was a real like nutcase.
00:13:22.720 I was crazy.
00:13:24.220 And I just, it was more than drugs.
00:13:26.500 It's really always about more than that.
00:13:28.900 And I needed a lot of that sort of discipline.
00:13:31.700 I, it's, you know, it's life.
00:13:33.900 Life goes on.
00:13:34.820 Life happens.
00:13:35.800 Things flare off.
00:13:37.180 Yeah.
00:13:37.620 One of the persons who contacted me with their story said that it has been so impossible to
00:13:43.260 get help for their child.
00:13:45.800 Every time the person is out of rehab and comes back home, it's so fast that it goes back to
00:13:52.500 the way it was.
00:13:53.700 And they told me that they tried everything and now don't feel safe having their child
00:13:59.500 in their home anymore.
00:14:00.700 And there's nothing they can do about it.
00:14:02.780 And that is a very important discussion to have.
00:14:05.380 Anyways, this is such a heavy topic, you guys.
00:14:07.920 Let me know what you think.
00:14:09.500 And thank you again for watching.
00:14:11.560 I really appreciate all your support.
00:14:14.000 And if you haven't subscribed yet, please do and hit the notification bell.
00:14:17.900 So you never miss an episode of Flawsome Talk.
00:14:20.600 And I'll see you tomorrow.
00:14:21.940 Bye!