‘The Young and the Restless’ Star Kristoff St. John Sadly Dies at Age 52

Fans of the soap opera The Young and the Restless, as well as countless others, were shocked to hear the news that actor Kristoff St. John was found dead at the age of 52 at his home in California’s San Fernando Valley on Sunday, February 3.

After the actor’s untimely passing, a spokesperson for the LAPD issued the following statement: “Kristoff St. John passed away yesterday at 2:05 p.m. It’s a coroner’s case so we’re not investigating. He was found in the 2300 block of Morea Way. That’s all the information I have at the moment.” Though Kristoff’s exact cause of death is not publicly known, it was suggested by the LAPD that it could have been from an alcohol overdose.

Born July 15, 1966, in New York City, Kristoff began his acting career playing the young Alex Haley in the 1979 ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generation. From there he made guest appearances in a number of sitcoms, among them Happy Days and The Cosby Show, before scoring a regular role on Flip Wilson’s Charlie & Co. He joined the cast of NBC’s soap opera Generations as Adam Marshall and, when that show was canceled in 1991, he shifted over to The Young and the Restless, playing Neil Winters for the past 25 years.

From 1991 to 1995, he was married to Mia St. John, and from 2001 to 2007 he was married to Allana Nadal. At the time of his death, he was engaged to Russian model Kseniya Olegovna Mikhaleva with the two of them planning on getting married this fall. With Mia, he had two children, a son, Julian, and a daughter, Paris Nicole. With Allana, he fathered daughter Lola.

Less than a week before his death, Kristoff was, according to BlackDoctor.org, hospitalized for a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation following what was believed to be a suicide attempt. Noted the site, “The man’s former wife, Mia St. John, was the one who called the police and told them that Kristoff sent her worrying pics of him holding a firearm to his head. When cops arrived, they confiscated two guns and placed Kristoff under a 72-hour hold for mental evaluation.”

All of this took place close to the fourth anniversary of the suicide of Kristoff’s son, Julian, who had been suffering from massive bouts of depression and sadly passed away at age 24 in November 2014.

Worryingly, on January 21, Kristoff had 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.” Sadly, now he has. Our thoughts are with Kristoff’s family during this devastating time.

If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.