ROBERT De Niro’s daughter says she “didn’t want to live” after her 19-year-old son, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, died in 2023.
The Hollywood star’s grandson died just shy of his 20th birthday, and his mother, Drena De Niro, has now recounted the devastating day she learned he was gone.
She remembers waking on the morning of July 2 with an overwhelming sense that something was terribly wrong.
Drena said she felt “completely distressed, and I had no idea why.”
She added, “I woke up, and I was just physically a mess. I couldn’t concentrate. I was so worked up.”
Hoping to calm herself, she put on some relaxing music – then the doorbell rang.
“This detective stood there, and the whole world as I knew it collapsed,” Drena said.
Leandro’s body had been discovered in a chair in a Financial District apartment at the Cipriani Club Residence on Wall Street in New York.
A white powdery substance and drug paraphernalia were found nearby.
It was later confirmed that he had died from an accidental fentanyl overdose.
Last month, five alleged drug dealers were arrested for allegedly selling fentanyl-laced opioid pills that killed three people, including Leandro and 19-year-old Akira Stein, the daughter of Blondie guitarist Chris Stein.
The defendants – Grant McIver, Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, John Nicolas, and Roy Nicolas – were described as members of a criminal network that distributed “thousands of counterfeit prescription opioid pills laced with fentanyl, among other drugs, to teenagers and young adults living in New York City.”
Separately, Sophia Haley Marks, 20, known as the “Percocet Princess,” was charged with selling Leandro the pills he overdosed on.
Drena called the arrests “bittersweet”.
She said: “I’m hoping they do get some justice. If you’re going to sell drugs to young people, it doesn’t matter whether you made it, whether you know or you didn’t know, you’re taking a chance.”
She says she had not been unaware of her son’s drug use, but believes TikTok and the pandemic contributed to his rapid decline.
“There was a change in him that was so fast,” she said.
He “liked to smoke weed, he liked to party and have a good time, but he got messed up so fast that I knew something wasn’t right here, and I knew it had something to do with what he was doing on the internet.”
Before he died, he had been “talking about rehab.”
Drena said: “That was very sad to me because he wanted help. He knew he was over his head. I don’t think he even knew why. I think he had been exposed to much harder drugs that he didn’t know about.”
Robert De Niro released a statement saying, “I’m deeply distressed by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo.
“We’re greatly appreciative of the condolences form everyone. We ask that we please be given privacy to grieve our loss of Leo.”
For Drena, the grief was nearly overwhelming.
After Leandro died, she said, “I didn’t think I would survive.”
She remembers attending his funeral and “feeling like I didn’t want to live.”
In his own tribute, Leandro’s father, Carlos Rodriguez, wrote: “Words aren’t enough to express the joy he gave us or the loss we now endure with our families and friends.”
In the aftermath of her son’s death, Drena established the Leandro De Niro Rodriguez Foundation to raise awareness and “offer love and empathy to young people struggling with addiction and mental health.”
At the time of his death, Leandro was an aspiring actor who had landed a small role in the 2018 blockbuster A Star Is Born, starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.