Robert De Niro cries while talking about his gay dad to Out magazine

NEW YORK, May 28 (UPI) -- Robert DeNiro broke down in sobs while speaking to Out magazine about his gay father, Robert DeNiro Sr.

Twenty years after DeNiro Sr. lost his battle to Cancer in 1993, the Godfather star said that while they were not "the type of father and son who played baseball together" they did have "a connection."

"I wasn't with him a lot, because my mother and he were separated and divorced. I looked after him in certain ways," said DeNiro.

The 70-year-old actor still looks out for his father, even preserving the studio where he once worked as a figurative painter.

"He probably was [conflicted] about his homosexuality, being from that generation," the actor said at one point. "Especially from a small town upstate. I was not aware, much, of it. I wish we had spoken about it much more. My mother didn't want to talk about things in general, and you're not interested when you're a certain age."

Nowadays, however, DeNiro feels like it's time to open up about his dad's struggles with his sexuality.

"I think it's time," he said of the need to tell his father's story. "I thought about it, of course, but if you're going to do something, you have to do it all the way. You can't hide anything. That's the whole point-- the truth."

The Taxi Driver actor will also share father's story in an upcoming HBO documentary, Remembering the Artist, which premieres on June 9.

You can read DeNiro's full interview with Out here.