Robert De Niro is opening up about his grandson Leandro De Niro Rodriguez’s death.
During a Wednesday, February 7, interview with People, De Niro, 80, recalled feeling “disbelief” after learning Leandro had died at age 19 in July 2023. “It’s just a shock,” he said. “[I] never thought it would happen.”
One month after Leandro’s death, New York City’s chief medical examiner told TMZ that the teenager had fentanyl, bromazolam, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine and cocaine in his system, ruling his death an accidental overdose.
“I just then started thinking about all the things I could have, should have done maybe with him,” Robert said of Leandro, who was the son of his eldest daughter, Drena De Niro. “I don’t know if that would’ve made a difference. And so that’s always playing through my mind. … It shouldn’t have happened.”
The actor previously said that he was “deeply distressed by the passing of [his] beloved grandson” in a July 2023 statement to Us Weekly. Drena, 56, who Robert adopted while he was married to her mother, Diahnne Abbott, has also spoken out about the heartbreaking loss.
“My beautiful sweet angel. I have loved you beyond words or description from the moment I felt you in my belly,” she wrote via Instagram after his death. “I don’t know how to live without you but I’ll try to go on and spread the love and light that you so made me feel in getting to be your mama. You were so deeply loved and appreciated and I wish that love alone could have saved you 😞.”
After Leandro’s cause of death was revealed in August 2023, Drena took to social media to slam trolls who “spread vitriol and pain” in response to the circumstances of her son’s passing.
“As long as we keep blaming the addict and person suffering mental illness we are going to continue to see more of this,” she wrote. “When you decide to comment on people’s misfortune and loss, at least really think about the emotional and mental fragility of the people you’re attacking online. We are all human beings in the end.”
Drena added that Leandro “suffered tremendously through the pandemic” before his addiction “took over in the last year and eventually killed him.”
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In addition to Drena, Robert shares son Raphael, 47, with Abbott, 78, twin sons Julian and Aaron, 28, with ex Toukie Smith, son Elliot, 25, and daughter Helen, 12, with ex-wife Grace Hightower and daughter Gia, 10 months, with girlfriend Tiffany Chen.
The Oscar winner called his youngest child “an adorable baby” on Wednesday. “So sweet. [When I] look at her, everything else goes away. So, it’s a great joy and relief to just be with her in the moment.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
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