Kristoff St. John’s official cause of death has been determined. The Young and the Restless star, who shockingly died at the age of 52 last month, reportedly passed away due to heart disease and alcohol abuse.
According to CBS , Kristoff St. John was found dead in his L.A. home on February 3. Following an autopsy and toxicology reports, it has been determined that the actor died from “hypertrophic heart disease” and alcohol poisoning. The death was classified as accidental.
Kristoff was best known for his role as Neil Winters on the CBS soap opera. He won two Daytime Emmys and several NAACP awards for the role. However, in his earlier career he appeared in the miniseries Roots: The Next Generation . St. John also appeared in Happy Days, The Cosby Show , and the soap opera Generations .
In 2014, the actor publicly struggled when he lost his son, Julian, to suicide. Many fans believed that Kristoff never recovered from the heartbreaking loss of his child, and that Julian’s death was one of the factors that led to Kristoff’s untimely passing.
Julian was an artist who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 18, the diagnosis following a battle with severe depression as a young child. Julian was in a facility at the time of his death, and was found unresponsive in the bathroom after taking his own life. Kristoff and his former wife, Mia, later sued the hospital for negligence.
In one of his very last tweets before passing away, St. John retweeted a message that read, “Grieving the loss of a child is a process. It begins on the day your child passes, and ends the day the parent joins them.” Kristoff replied to the statement, saying, “Never a truer word was spoke [sic]. Thanks for posting this.”
To all my friends and fans. Thank you for all of your recent support and love. #family #YR #NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/xTfp0jzTPa
— Kristoff St John (@kristoffstjohn1) December 1, 2017
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , Kristoff St. John’s loved ones were allegedly growing concerned about him in the days prior to his death. Sources told Radar Online that he was “drinking heavily” at the end of his life, and that he had become withdrawn.
“When his son died, he died. He was never the same. He wishes it would have been him,” says the source.
In 2017, Kristoff seemed to have a breakdown of his own. He made headlines for reportedly threatening to kill himself with a gun. After that, things settled down for St. John, who found love again with Russian model Kseniya Mikhaleva.
Entertainment Weekly reports that Kristoff St. John’s family at The Young and the Restless are planning to participate in multiple episodes that honor the life of the actor — episodes which will air next month.