Inside the Death of Late 'Young and the Restless' Star Kristoff St. John's Son, Julian

Kristoff St. John, best known as Neil Winters on “The Young and the Restless,” passed away on February 3, 2019 – four years after his son died by suicide in a mental facility.

Julian, the actor’s son, was found dead in his room at the La Casa Psychiatric Health Facility in Long Beach, California, on November 23, 2015. He struggled with schizophrenia for years.

“We mourn the loss of our son, brother, artist poet, and a giant of a young man.”

Julian’s life

As the Los Angeles Times reported, Julian was an artist who used to be homeless. While living in a park bathroom in Canoga Park, he drew some of the pieces that he displayed at the Laguna Gallery of Contemporary Art in 2013.

The reason Julian was homeless had nothing to do with money. Instead, it was related to his schizophrenia, bipolarity, depression, and autism. He would leave home voluntarily and live on the streets for a long time.

Every time that Kristoff and Mia could find him, they would either house him or set him up in hotels. Julian’s condition, however, never improved, what drove his parents to send him to the La Casa Psychiatric Health Facility.

One month after Julian’s passing, Kristoff opened up about it to ET Online, admitting that his son died two weeks before his 25th birthday.

Kristoff and Mia’s thoughts on Julian’s death

“We mourn the loss of our son, brother, artist poet, and a giant of a young man. A beautiful life gone much too soon. Julian will forever be remembered as he now takes flight with Angels,” Kristoff added.

After Julian’s death, Kristoff and his ex-wife Mia filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the mental facility Julian was. They claimed that the staff members skipped the mandatory observations of their son.

The family pointed out that, since Julian was on suicide watch, nurses were supposed to check on him every 15 minutes. However, CCTV footage from the day he died showed that he was left unattended for over an hour.

When the staff checked on him after that time, it was too late as he was already dead. Kristoff St. John and Mia also claimed that the staff modified documents to cover up their mistake.

The outcome of the lawsuit

La Casa Psychiatric Health Facility denied the allegations, though, and the lawsuit was eventually settled out of court.

Unfortunately, the decision didn’t help Kristoff and Mia with the healing process. Talking to ET, the actor admitted that he was still angry and that the footage of Julian’s death was not something he wanted to see again.

Mia pointed out that several mental facilities started taking out plastic bags (used by Julian when he died) after her son’s passing, and that she would fight for “the rest of [her] life” until something is done.

Kristoff took things entirely different, sadly. In October 2017, he was hospitalized and put under psychiatric evaluation after allegedly threatening to kill himself with a gun.

Kristoff’s passing

When the police arrived at the scene, they found and confiscated two guns. They later put Kristoff under a 72-hour hold for mental evaluation. The incident took place one month before the second anniversary of Julian’s suicide.

Sadly, on February 3, 2019, the “Young and the Restless” star was found dead at his home in Los Angeles. He was only 52 years old.

Although several people thought that he had killed himself, his death was ruled as an accident one month after his passing. According to the coroners, the cause of his death was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Apart from that, it was revealed that alcohol and prescription anti-anxiety drugs like Nordiazepam and Librium were detected in his blood.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “help” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.