Kristoff St. John, who played Neil Winters on the CBS daytime soap opera “The Young & the Restless,” has died, according to his attorney Mark Geragos. He was 52. A cause of death has not yet been released.
St. John — the son of actor Christopher St. John — entered the industry at a young age, making his television debut at age 7 in the series, “That’s My Mama.” He went on to star in the series “Charlie & Company” with Flip Wilson, Gladys Knight and Della Reese and also had a recurring role on “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper.” He made appearances on other TV shows, including “The Cosby Show,” “Diagnosis Murder,” “Arli$$,” “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “Martin,” and “Living Single.”
St. John joined the cast of “The Young & the Restless” in 1991. In 2014, St. John’s 24-year-old son Julian died by suicide while he was a patient at the La Casa Psychiatric Health Facility in Long Beach, California. The actor and his ex-wife Mia later filed suit against the facility. St. John was open about his battles with depression following the death of his son and in 2017 he took a leave of absence from his show to deal with mental health issues.
St. John’s last posted on Twitter January 21 when he retweeted a tweet which said “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.” He was also set to marry his girlfriend Kseniya Mikhaleva soon.
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