Dick Van Dyke "didn't sleep" after the deaths of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner

In an Instagram video this week, Arlene, 54, said: "Such a weird, wonderful, awful weekend.

"I can't not talk about this horrible thing... I mean, Dick's birthday was so amazing, so over-the-top beautiful, and then this.

"I was relieved and happy, and then this happened yesterday."

She revealed the Mary Poppins actor "didn't sleep" after the tragic news broke, and he "wanted to stay up" to find out more.

She added: "We didn't know what happened. It just said, the first reports are two people found in the house."

Arlene explained that Dick first met Rob as a teenager, as his father Carl Reiner created the Dick Van Dyke Show.

She recalled: "And then Rob and Carl [Reiner] were the first people I ever met with Dick. "Rob and Michele were always together, like Dick and I.

"And I always felt part of the Reiner family; they always treated me like part of their family. And this is just unbelievable."

Arlene admitted she was conflicted because she wanted to "celebrate" her husband's milestone birthday, but couldn't avoid the tragedy of their friends' deaths.

She said: "It's terrible. I want to celebrate Dick, I want to keep doing that, but I also want to acknowledge this horrible thing."

Arlene led a flash mob in dancing to a medley of the actor's songs on his birthday, and they were joined by family and friends for a party at their Malibu home.

She told PEOPLE magazine: "It went so perfect - just everything. And he was so happy. His face, I love to make him have that face.

"This felt so perfect."

On Tuesday (16.12.25), District Attorney Nathan Hockman confirmed that Rob and Michele's son Nick, 32, would be charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a special allegation that used a knife.

Nick was arrested in connection with the murders several hours after his parents were killed.

He has been held without bail at LA's Men's Central Jail, and was initially meant to appear in court on Tuesday, but wasn't medically cleared, according to his attorney, Alan Jackson.