Robert De Niro is reflecting on his family’s devastating loss.
More than seven months after the Academy Award winner’s 19-year-old grandson Leandro De Niro Rodriguez died from an accidental drug overdose, he recounted the moment he learned of the tragedy.
“It’s just a shock,” Robert told People in an interview published Feb. 7 of hearing the news. “Never thought it would happen.”
The 80-year-old added, “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.”
In July, Leandro—who was the son of Robert’s daughter Drena De Niro—was found unresponsive inside a New York City residence where he was pronounced dead. A month later his cause of death was attributed to the “toxic effects of fentanyl, bromazolam, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine, and cocaine,” New York City’s chief medical examiner confirmed to TMZ.
