Following the sudden death of Cameron Boyce on Sunday stemming from a previously diagnosed medical condition, the 20-year-old’s on-screen big brother from the two Grown Ups movies, Jake Goldberg, is paying tribute with a heartfelt post shared to social media.
On Sunday, the 23-year-old Goldberg, who is currently attending the University of Colorado Boulder, took to Instagram Stories to share a tribute to his on-screen little brother with a video backed to the Jackson 5 track, “I’ll Be There.”
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With lyrics from the song appearing on an image of the two in a shoulder embrace, Goldberg captioned the shot: “This song forever reminds me of you,” alongside a heart emoji.
Goldberg and Boyce’s on-screen parents, Salma Hayek and Adam Sandler also took to social media on Sunday to express their utmost sympathies for their co-star. Hayek shared a set of images from her shared time with the young star on the set of their film, revealing that the two had maintained a friendship outside the movies.
“I had the privilege to play Cameron’s mother in [Grown Ups 1 and 2] and we stayed in touch through the years He was spirited, talented, kind, generous, funny and a shining light. His joy will live in our hearts forever as he goes on dancing and shining elsewhere. My heart goes to his lovely family,” Hayek wrote in the post.
Grown Ups patriarch, Sandler was one of the first Sunday to break his silence over the tremendous loss, taking to Twitter Sunday morning to express his heartbreak over the loss, admitting how he really “loved that kid.”
“Too young. Too sweet. Too funny. Just the nicest, most talented, and and most decent kid around,” Sandler shared in a note posted to the account. “Loved that kid. Cared so much about his family. Cared so much about the world. Thank you, Cameron, for all you gave to us. So much more was on the way. All our hearts are broken. Thinking of your amazing family and sending our deepest condolences.”
Boyce’s co-star in the comedy franchise, Nadji Jeter — who played the son of Chris Rock and Maya Rudolph‘s characters — also took to social media with a number of messages expressing his heartbreak.
“I lost my little brother [Cameron Boyce],” he wrote, starting at 5:10 a.m. ET to his account. In a tweet that followed just seconds later, Jeter wrote, “I love you little bro” alongside the hashtag, “b-boy truth,” tagging Boyce’s account. What followed almost five hours later was a tweet by Jeter noting he was “sicc” (sic) over the news. In the hours since, Jeter took to Twitter to share a number of images from the set of the two Grown Ups films from 2010 and 2013, and behind-the-scenes moments.
Grown Ups 2 co-star, Nick Swardson also commented on the young star’s passing, retweeting Sandler’s message with the caption, “Heart broken. He was the kindest.”
Boyce’s death was announced late Saturday night by family, revealing how Boyce — fresh off of celebrating his birthday May 28 — died in his sleep due to a seizure brought on by “an ongoing medical condition.”
“It is with a profoundly heavy heart that we report that this morning we lost Cameron,” a Boyce family rep told ABC News. “He passed away in his sleep due to a seizure which was a result of an ongoing medical condition for which he was being treated. The world is now undoubtedly without one of its brightest lights, but his spirit will live on through the kindness and compassion of all who knew and loved him. We are utterly heartbroken and ask for privacy during this immensely difficult time as we grieve the loss of our precious son and brother.”
Photo credit: Columbia Pictures
