Beloved by his fans, Kristoff St. John carved out his own space in soap opera history playing Neil Winters on The Young and the Restless from 1991 until his tragic death in 2019. A new documentary about his life reveals that the celebrated actor lived a tortured existence which only those closest to him knew about.
His Troubles Led to Addiction
Y&R fans still lament the passing of Kristoff St. John at age 52 from hypertrophic heart disease, which was brought on by excessive use of alcohol. A documentary called Kristoff, directed by the acclaimed Bobby Razak, will debut in 2025 and explores the life of the Y&R star. People recently released an exclusive trailer for the film that shared intimate details about the struggles St. John went through.
Among the points hinted at in the promo is the fact that he didn’t have a regular childhood because he was a child actor, having appeared on shows like Happy Days and Wonder Woman, among several others, as he grew up.
His ex-wife, multi-year world boxing champion Mia St. John, provides some contextual narration, while St. John’s own words are also heard throughout. In one such part of the video, it is explained that his family were followers of an Indian spiritual leader named Sathya Sai Baba, and St. John had a disturbing revelation about the guru, admitting, “With shame and embarrassment, I told my dad in Baba’s private room, Baba had fondled me and sworn me to secrecy, claiming that he was giving me divine purification.”
He eventually got his acting career back on track, and noted, “I was working with the best, starring on television shows and films. I was back.” Mia added to that, explaining that while his career was relaunching, drug addiction took hold of St. John, and she relayed another cause for his addiction issues: “After Sai Baba and the sexual abuse, he started with crack. It became an obsession.”
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She ultimately explained that much of his overarching, complicated issues stemmed from his mental health, stating, “What most people didn’t know about Kristoff was that he was bipolar. He was suffering from a mental illness.”
Further Struggles Became Too Much for Him
His drug abuse got so bad that Mia remarked, “One day before I gave birth, Kristoff started back on crack cocaine.” She further explained that he would often go to work at Y&R while dealing with the DTs — aka delirium tremens — from alcohol withdrawal and “Couldn’t remember his lines. He just could not work.” Their son Julian also had mental health problems, and she explained that when it was discovered, Kristoff “just didn’t know what to do.”
Sadly, Julian died of suicide in 2014, which pushed St. John over the edge. He explained that when he was informed about it, it was “The worst call I’d ever had in my life,” later adding, “It’s every parent’s nightmare.”
Of St. John’s struggles, Mia related that, “He couldn’t find a way out. He couldn’t save himself. Nobody could save him.”
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