Former child star Christian Cousins has died. He was 43.
“RIP: My Dear Brother. … It’s hard to share that my brother, Christian Cousins, has passed away,” Cousins’ brother Jonas Roeser recently wrote via Instagram. “Christian and his twin brother, Joseph ‘Joey’ Cousins, are my brothers through my biological father.”
Roeser confirmed that Christian “had been very sick with liver disease,” though an official cause of death has not been publicly revealed.
“It brings me comfort to believe he is now in heaven with his mother, free from the pain he was carrying. Rest easy, Christian,” Roeser added. “I hope your soul is at rest and that you’ve found peace. You are my brother and you will be missed.”
Christian, best known for his childhood roles in Kindergarten Cop and Knots Landing, met Roeser later in life.
“[Christian and Joey] grew up in California while I was in Washington and I didn’t get to know them until I was in college,” Roeser acknowledged. “Before that, I grew up watching them on television in Knots Landing and the lead role of Dominic in Kindergarten Cop with Arnold Schwarzenegger.”
He continued, “Those roles are only a small part of how I’ll remember Christian. He was a character, full of passion and energy, with big stories and even bigger dreams.”
Christian’s Kindergarten Cop costars Tiffany and Krystle Mataras offered their condolences in the comments section of Roeser’s tribute.
“We had NO idea. Someone literally just told us,” the Mataras twins commented via their joint profile. “We’re so sorry. We have such fond memories with Chris and Joe and our family.”
Christian, who retired from acting in the ‘90s, last publicly reunited with the Kindergarten Cop cast in 2020.
“They knew that there was going to be a lot of limitations because of how many kids were involved in the movie and because of child labor rights and whatnot because you can only work so many hours,” he recalled to Yahoo Entertainment of being cast alongside his brother. “We were a younger crowd that in order to get filming done in anything less than eons for the screen time that was required for the Dominic character, they were likely going to need twins.”
At the time, Christian wasn’t aware of the movie magic in the making.
“I didn’t even know the significance of the role when I got it,” he noted. “I remember distinctly a kid that I’d seen in audition rooms a number of times in L.A. at that age literally stands up in the middle of it and interrupts Ivan and Arnold from talking and whatnot and says, ‘Has the role of Dominic already been cast?’ Like, that was a thing.”
