Robert De Niro’s Daughter Drena Blames Internet for Playing a Factor in Teen Son’s Death

Robert De Niro’s daughter Drena De Niro blamed the internet for playing a factor in her teen son Leandro DeNiro Rodriguez’s death in July 2023.

Drena, 58, opened up about the day Leandro died at the age of 19 of a drug overdose, telling Page Six she woke up feeling “completely distressed.” She recalled, “I woke up, and I was just physically a mess. I couldn’t concentrate … I was so worked up.”

An NYPD officer later showed up at her apartment to inform her that Leandro had died, and his cause of death was later confirmed as an accidental fentanyl overdose.

While speaking to the outlet, Drena admitted she was aware of her only child’s drug use. She then pointed to TikTok, the COVID-19 pandemic and fentanyl for being responsible for Leandro’s death.

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“There was a change in him that was so fast,” Drena said, adding that he “liked to smoke weed,” “party and have a good time” before he got hooked on opioids. “But he got messed up so fast that I knew something wasn’t right here, and I knew it had something to do with what he was doing on the internet,” she said.

Drena shared that they were “talking about rehab” before his death, though she shared that Leandro previously went and “it did a terrible disservice to him.

“That was very sad to me because he wanted help,” Drena said. “He knew he was over his head. I don’t think he even knew why. I think he had been exposed to much harder drugs that he didn’t know about.”

Five suspects were arrested on federal charges in October for allegedly selling fentanyl-laced opioid pills that killed three people, including Leandro and Blondie guitarist Chris Stein’s 19-year-old Akira Stein.

Additionally, Sophia Haley Marks, an alleged drug dealer known as the “Percocet Princess,” was separately charged with being the person who sold Leandro the pills he overdosed on, per Page Six.

Drena told the outlet that the arrests were “really strange,” saying the situation was “bittersweet because you don’t feel any happier.”

“I’m hoping they do get some justice. If you’re going to sell drugs to young people, it doesn’t matter whether you made it, whether you know or didn’t know, you’re taking a chance,” she said, though she also insisted she’s “not interested in ruining some 24-year-old’s life.”

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Drena also shared insight into who Leandro was, saying he was an “amazing kid” and “was so smart.”

“We were extremely close because really it was the first time in my life that I got to have an identity that had nothing to do with my father, or ‘I’m the this’ of someone else — all of a sudden, you have this relationship in your life with someone who knows the best of you, the worst of you,” she said.

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After noting she didn’t think she would “survive” after Leandro’s death, she said she felt like she “didn’t want to live.”

Drena also reflected on her son’s death being “all over the press.” She continued, “It was really painful and shocking and violating for his story to go so viral.”

“But a part of me was like, ‘He’s not going to be some horrible sound bite. I’m going to make sure you know who this kid is and you’re going to know about all these other parents who are losing their kids,’” Drena said.

Drena managed to keep her son’s memory alive by launching the Leandro De Niro Rodriguez Foundation, which raises awareness about fentanyl being the leading cause of drug fatalities and offers “love and empathy to young people struggling with addiction and mental health.”