Robert De Niro Questions What He Could Have Done With Grandson Leandro Before His Fatal Overdose

Robert De Niro is sharing that he’s still coping with the death of his grandson. The actor, 80, opened up to People in a new interview that was published on Feb. 7, and he spoke openly about the death of his daughter Drena’s only son Leandro De Niro, who passed away from an accidental drug overdose in July. He said, “[it] shouldn’t have happened.” “I felt disbelief…It’s just a shock. [I] never thought it would happen. And I just then started thinking about all the things I could have, should have done maybe with him. I don’t know if that would’ve made a difference. And so that’s always playing through my mind. It shouldn’t have happened,” the Oscar winner said. The 19-year-old died on July 2, 2023, which the New York City Chief Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to NBC News at the time that his death was caused by the “toxic effects of fentanyl, bromazolam, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine, and cocaine.” His manner of death was ruled an accident.