Robert De Niro‘s daughter Drena De Niro paid tribute to her son, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, following his death at age 19.
“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,” Drena, 51, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, July 2, alongside a photo of the teenager. “I wish I was with you right now. I wish I was with you.”
Her caption continued: “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 😞.”
Drena shared her son with artist Carlos Mare, who she included in her emotional statement. “I’m so sorry my baby, I’m so sorry @carlosmare 😢💔. Rest in Peace and Eternal Paradise my darling boy 🙏🏽💔💔💔💔💔🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️,” she wrote.
Mare left a thoughtful tribute of his own in the comments section, writing, “😢 My dear Drena… words aren’t enough to express the joy he gave us or the loss we now endure with our families and friends. He is Godschild now. 🙏🏼 On this full moon his spirit luminates what could not be seen in the dark. You can’t spell LOVE without LEO 👼💔💔.”
Celebrities including Andy Cohen and Naomi Campbell sent their condolences to the actress and her loved ones. “Drena I am so sad to hear about beautiful Leo. Sending you all my love ❤️,” Cohen, 55, commented.
Campbell, 53 added, “Drena heartbroken for you, such a Duo, i can’t imagine how you must feel, May the lord cover you and hold you in his arms, at this very sad time and loss .. I love you, always here for you 🕊️💔🙏🏾.”
Ahead of his death, Leandro followed in the acting footsteps of his mother and grandfather. He appeared alongside Drena in 2018’s A Star Is Born, playing the son of Dave Chappelle‘s George “Noodles” Stone. The mother-son pair previously worked together on 2005’s The Collection and 2018’s Cabaret Maxime.
The 79-year-old Oscar winner has yet to publicly comment on his grandson’s passing.
Along with Drena, whom he adopted while married to Diahnne Abbott, Robert has six children. He shares son Raphael with Abbott, from whom he split in 1988 after 12 years of marriage. The Goodfellas actor went on to welcome twins Julian and Aaron with Toukie Smith via surrogate in 1995, one year before the pair called it quits.
The Intern star subsequently tied the knot with Grace Hightower in 1997, and the twosome welcomed son Elliot the following year. They briefly split in 1999 before renewing their vows in 2004. Daughter Helen was born via surrogate in 2011. The former spouses separated for good in 2018.
Earlier this year, Robert shocked fans with the news of his seventh child’s arrival. He revealed in May that he welcomed a baby girl with girlfriend Tiffany Chen, to whom he was first linked in 2021.
