In a tragic development, Robert De Niro’s family is grieving the sudden and tragic loss of his 19-year-old grandson, Leandro.

Drena De Niro, Robert De Niro’s daughter, shared her heart-wrenching feelings on the loss of her son this past weekend.

Struggling through her grief, Drena, the 51-year-old filmmaker, expressed her sentiments via Instagram: “I can barely type through my tears but all the love, the messages, calls, texts, emails, the friends and family that held me up these last 24 hrs I’ve not been able to respond yet but we’re grateful for the all your love and condolences.”

“The same man that picked us up from the hospital when you were born drove us to the funeral home where I touched and held you for the last time,” she wrote in her poignant tribute to Leandro.

“You were kindness acceptance and love and I can’t believe any of this is real. You made everything bearable and every burden lighter. You didn’t deserve to die like this but I can only believe that God needed a strong powerful angel in their army.”

Her words echo a lamentation from a mother’s broken heart, as she ends with: “I’m holding you every second of every moment I’m in my heart and memories until I’m with you again. My heart is broken forever. Me, daddy and your family love you, I love I love you with every beat of my crying heart.”

Drena, the eldest child of the renowned “Meet the Parents” star, was adopted by De Niro in 1976 upon his marriage to her mother, Diahnne Abbott.

The couple divorced in 1988 but De Niro remained a constant figure in Drena’s life.

Robert De Niro, Academy Award-winning actor, echoed his daughter’s anguish in a statement released on Monday: “I’m deeply distressed by the passing of my beloved grandson Leo. We’re greatly appreciative of the condolences from everyone. We ask that we please be given privacy to grieve our loss of Leo.”

The cause of Leandro’s death remains unknown.

Drena first shared the heartbreaking news of her son’s passing via an Instagram post on Monday, stating, “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.”

Our thoughts and prayers are with the De Niro family as they navigate through this period of profound grief and loss.