The Young and The Restless star, Kristoff St. John, was found dead on Sunday in his home in California — just two weeks after he tweeted about his son’s suicide. St. John’s son committed suicide in 2014.
St. John and his ex-wife Mia St. John, had a son named Julian who died by suicide four years ago on Nov. 23, 2014. He was only 24 and had been struggling with a lifelong battle with mental illness. He was reportedly found unresponsive in the bathroom of a Long Beach, California, facility.
According to a 2013 Huffington Post profile, Julian was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 18 and had endured periods of severe depression since he was a child.
On Jan. 21 of this year, St. John took to Twitter and retweeted someone’s post about losing a child:
He responded to the tweet with, “Never a truer word was spoke. Thanks for posting this.”
In a report by Entertainment Weekly, St. John had taken a leave of absence from his show to deal with mental health issues. Since the passing of his son, St. John has been open on his battles with depression.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed to PEOPLE on Monday that St. John was found dead at a home in Woodland Hills on Sunday. He was pronounced deceased at 4:02 p.m. The reason for his death has not yet been released for the 52-year-old.
Before his passing, St. John was a nominee for various awards: Action on Film International Film Festival (one), Young Artist (one), Soap Opera Digest (two), Image Awards (seven), and Daytime Emmy Awards (nine). He also was the winner of two Daytime Emmy Awards, one Beverly Hills Film Festival and 10 Image Awards.
He stared in numerous television shows and movies, but none more popular than The Young and The Restless where he played the character Neil Winters. He also produced two movies and a TV series before his passing.
