Kristoff St. John, an actor known to legions of fans for his work on “The Young and the Restless,” has died. He was 52.
Police said that officers responded to his home in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles at 2:05 p.m. Sunday and found him dead from a possible alcohol overdose.
St. John had been on the CBS soap opera since 1991 and won a pair of Daytime Emmy Awards for his role of Neil Winters. He and his co-stars recently appeared in a video promoting CBS' coverage of the Super Bowl.
St. John leaves behind two children and a fiancée, Kseniya Mikhaleva, who posted a heartbreaking tribute to him on her Instagram page that has since been taken down.
“How did it happen ???” she wrote. “How ??? Why did you leave so early ???? and left me alone ..... I can't believe ... you were everything to me .... you were a loving father, a loving man.”
Several other people also expressed their shock and sadness, including fellow “Young and the Restless” stars Alice Hunter and Eric Braeden, veteran soap opera actor Tyler Christopher, Vivica A. Fox, former "Community" star Yvette Nicole Brown, Kim Fields and St. John's lawyer Mark Geragos.
An autopsy had been scheduled for Monday, but officials say it could take weeks before results from toxicology tests are known.
"For those of us who were fortunate enough to work with him on ‘The Young and the Restless’ for the last 27 years, he was a beloved friend whose smile and infectious laugh made every day on set a joy and made audiences love him," CBS and Sony Pictures Television, which produces the series, said in a statement.
St. John lost his 24-year-old son that he had with ex-wife Mia St. John in 2014 to an apparent suicide. One of the actor's more recent tweets came a few weeks ago in response to someone writing about grieving the loss of a child.