Robert De Niro’s 19-year-old grandson, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, has died.
The actor’s daughter Drena De Niro revealed her son’s death in a touching Instagram tribute Sunday.
“My beautiful sweet angel,” the filmmaker, 51, began the lengthy post. “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,” she continued. “I wish I was with you right now. I wish I was with you. I don’t know how to live without you.”
Drena went on to write about her intetions to “spread the love and light” that Leandro made her feel.
“You were so deeply loved and appreciated and I wish that love alone could have saved you,” she concluded. “I’m so sorry my baby. Rest in Peace and Eternal Paradise my darling boy.”
The actress tagged Leandro’s father, sculptor Carlos “Mare139” Rodriguez, in the social media upload over the weekend.
She did not share further details of Leandro’s death, though a police source told the Daily Mail that a “white powdery substance” was found “on a plate” near the body.
Drena is Robert’s eldest child of seven. The Oscar winner adopted the little one in 1976 when he married her mother, Diahnne Abbott. Drena took her then-stepdad’s surname at the time.
Robert, 79, and Abbott, 78, called it quits in 1988, more than a decade after they welcomed son Raphael, now 46.
In 2004, the former couple became grandparents when Drena and Mare welcomed their baby boy.
Drena lived in New York City with the teenager, recently sharing Mother’s Day photos with him via Instagram. “Today was a good day,” the Daredevil Films and Television founder captioned the May slideshow.
Robert is also the father of twins Aaron and Julian, 27, with Toukie Smith, as well as Elliot, 25, and Helen, 11, with Grace Hightower. He and Tiffany Chen recently welcomed a baby girl named Gia.
