Robert De Niro’s Grandson Leandro De Niro Rodriguez Dead at 19

Robert De Niro’s grandson, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, has passed away. Leandro’s mother, actress Drena De Niro, shared the sad new on Instagram on Sunday night. While she did not disclose any details on her son’s death, her heartbreak was plain in her words.

“My beautiful sweet angel. I have loved you beyond words or description from the moment I felt you in my belly,” Drena wrote. “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.”

“I’m so sorry my baby. Rest in Peace and Eternal Paradise my darling boy,” Drena concluded. It is not clear when Leandro passed away nor how, though the heartbreak seemed fresh to many of Drena’s friends and followers. They left their consolations in the comments, wishing her well in this difficult grieving process.

“Shocked! I’m so sorry! We are all here for you!!! I love you too [sic] much!” wrote actress Rosie Perez. Director Lee Daniels also commented, writing: “Drena may GOD keep you in his arms.”

Drena is De Niro’s oldest child at 51 years old. De Niro adopted Drena when he married her mother, actress Diahnne Abbott in 1976. He and Abbott had a son named Raphael together before divorcing in 1988. De Niro would go on to have five more children from three different relationships. So far, the actor has only four grandchildren – Leandro via Drena and three grandchildren via Raphael.

De Niro had twins with model Toukie Smith in 1995, though the two were never married. He married actress Grace Hightower in 1997 and had a son shortly after. Years later, the two had a daughter via surrogate in 2011. De Niro and Hightower divorced in 2018, and just this year he revealed that he and his girlfriend Tiffany Chen had a daughter named Gia.

So far, De Niro and his publicity team have not responded to other outlets’ requests for comment on Leandro’s passing. Drena has not made any new posts comments, and it does not appear that Leandro had any social media accounts of his own. Fans are sending their well wishes to De Niro and his family.