Robert De Niro’s daughter Drena De Niro opens up about the heartbreaking loss of her son, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, and how the tragedy changed her life.
Nearly two years after his death, she shared new details about the moments leading up to it, his struggle with drugs and the aftermath that still affects her today.
Leandro died in 2023 after unknowingly taking fentanyl-laced pills.
Drena told Page six that her son tried to get help and did not fully understand what he had been exposed to.
“It was very sad for me because he wanted help,” she said.
“He knew he was in over his head. I don’t even think he knew why. I think he had been exposed to much harder drugs that he didn’t know about.”
Shortly after his passing, she wrote on Instagram that “someone sold him fentanyl pills that they knew were laced but still sold them to him.”
Months later, the New York City Chief Medical Examiner confirmed that the 19-year-old died from a lethal combination of fentanyl, bromazolam, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine and cocaine.
In October, five people were arrested in connection with the case, but Drena admitted that the news was not easy to process.
She described it as “really weird” and “so bittersweet because you don’t feel happier.”
She hopes the legal process leads to accountability, adding: “I hope they get some justice. If you’re going to sell drugs to young people, it doesn’t matter if you got away with it, if you knew or didn’t know, you’re taking a chance.”
Even then, she said she didn’t want to ruin another young life, saying, “I’m not interested in ruining a 24-year-old’s life.”
Drena also reflected on her son’s personality and the bond they shared. “He was just a great kid, he was so smart,” she said.
Losing him was instant devastation. Recalling the moment she found out, she said: “This detective was standing there and the whole world as I knew it collapsed.”
She talked about how close they were and how her son gave her a sense of identity beyond being Robert De Niro’s daughter.
“We were very close,” she said. He also had a special relationship with his famous grandfather, and she described him as “just this pure soul.”
This year, Drena and Robert Leandro launched the De Niro Rodriguez Foundation to support families affected by the fentanyl crisis and expand access to care.
She said part of her mission is to protect other families from feeling the same pain she is carrying now.
“It was really painful and shocking and offensive for his story to go so viral, to hear people’s horrible thoughts,” she said, explaining that she refuses to let his legacy be reduced to headlines.
“He’s not going to be a terrible soundbite.”
Her focus today is to keep Leandro’s story alive in a way that helps others and to ensure that awareness and compassion come before judgment.
