The Healing Journey

July 27, 2023

“Any woman who’d ever lost a child knew of the hollowness that remained within the soul.”
– Brittainy C. Cherry

After discovering her 19-year-old son Leandro had died from possible fentanyl-laced pills, his mother Drena, who is the daughter of actor Robert De Niro, issued a heart-breaking statement on Instagram, the social media platform. They were impassioned words that every parent can relate to, especially those who have lost a child.

She described Leandro as her “beautiful sweet angel.”

“I have loved you beyond words or description from the moment I felt you in my belly,” Drena wrote in her tribute on July 3. “You have been my joy, my heart, and all that was ever pure and real in my life. I wish I was with you right now. I wish I was with you. I don’t know how to live without you, but I’ll try to go on and spread the love and light that you so made me feel in getting to be your mama,” she said.

“You were so deeply loved and appreciated, and I wish that love alone could have saved you. I’m so sorry, my baby, I’m so sorry @carlosmare. Rest in Peace and Eternal Paradise my darling boy,” she continued in a reference to Leandro’s father Carlos Rodriguez, who posted a comment that said, “He is God’s child now.  On this full moon, his spirit luminates what could not be seen in the dark. You can’t spell LOVE without LEO.”

Leandro appeared in three films, always with his mother, the first time when he was still an infant in “The Collection,” and later in the 2018 remake of “A Star Is Born,” as her son.

In a later post, Drena wrote: “You didn’t deserve to die like this, but I can only believe that God needed a strong powerful angel in their army. I’m holding you every second of every moment in my heart and memories until I’m with you again…”