Robert De Niro’s grandson dead at 19

Robert De Niro’s grandson has died at the age of 19. 

News broke on July 2 that Leandro De Niro Rodriguez passed away, according to a statement from his mother on Instagram, Yahoo News reported.

Leandro’s mother and daughter of the Oscar-winning actor, Drena De Niro, said in part:

“My beautiful sweet angel. I have loved you beyond words or description from the moment I felt you in my belly. You have been my joy my heart and all that was ever pure and real in my life. I wish I was with you right now. I wish I was with you. 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.”

Details regarding Leandro’s cause of death are scarce at the moment with “no obvious signs that led to his death” upon his body being discovered Sunday afternoon in a chair inside an apartment in New York City, TMZ reported, citing law enforcement’s statement. The report went on to say it was a friend of Leandro’s who discovered the famous actor’s grandson during a check-up after several days of not hearing from him.

Leandro’s father, artist Carlos Mare, didn’t give a specific public statement about his son’s death, but he nevertheless uploaded a blacked-out image to his Instagram, with several people sharing sympathetic sentiments in the comments. Drena, who was adopted by De Niro after he tied the knot with ex Diahnne Abbott, also tagged Carlos in her post.

Like his mother and grandfather, Leandro was an actor himself and even appeared alongside Drena in multiple films, such as 2018’s A Star is Born and Cabaret Maxime and 2005’s The Collection. 

Rest in peace.