‘You didn’t deserve to die like this’: Robert De Niro’s daughter speaks on son’s mysterious death

Despite a shroud of mystery still surrounding the death of Robert De Niro’s 19-year-old grandson, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, the young actor’s mother says he “didn’t deserve to die like this.”

Robert’s adopted daughter, Drena De Niro, brought Leandro into the world with her partner, Carlos Rodriguez. Drena and Leandro also starred in a couple of films together, including in small roles in the Oscar-winning 2018 film A Star is Born.

On Sunday, Leandro was found dead sitting in a chair in a New York City apartment building after a friend checked in on him following not hearing from him for a few days, according to TMZ, as we previously reported. Despite the eyebrow-raising circumstances, law enforcement officials said a cause of death could not be determined at the time. 

As of Wednesday, a cause of Leandro’s death hasn’t been identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, according to Insider.

Following an apparent funeral held for the young Deandro, which his mother Drena mentioned in a heartfelt Instagram post, she expressed gratitude for all the messages of “love and condolences” the family has received. “[T]hat held me up these last 24 hrs,” Drena said. She continued:

“None of this is right or fair and my heart hurts in a way I never knew possible while still breathing and barely functioning. Leo my darling I love you today like the first day I held you in my arms. The same man that picked us up from the hospital when you were born drove us to the funeral home where I touched and held you for the last time. You were kindness acceptance and love and I can’t believe any of this is real YOU made everything bearable and every burden lighter. You didn’t deserve to die like this but I can only believe that God needed a strong powerful angel in their army. I’m holding you every second of every moment I’m my heart and memories until I’m with you again. My heart is broken forever. Me daddy and your family love you, I love I love you with every beat of my crying heart.” 

Robert himself also recently gave his first public remarks about his grandson’s death, saying in part, he is “deeply distressed by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo.”  The Raging Bull star also expresses his gratitude for all of the sympathetic messages he’s received while also asking for the family’s privacy in the wake of his “beloved grandson Leo.”