The Saddest Things In The Life Of River Phoenix

Updated March 13, 2019 877.3K views 11 items

River Phoenix was one of those promising stars who passed at a young age and was on the cusp of a promising career, like James Dean. His fellow '80s and ‘90s peers, like Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp, all went on to have impressive careers. River was destined for similar greatness. He was already nominated for an Oscar by the age of 18 for his role in Running On Empty.

But an Oscar never happened for the young actor. River Phoenix’s passing was shocking and tragic. His passing was not the only tragic part of his life. Like many stars who have died young, River's life was full of misfortune and tribulations, including severe trauma within the Hollywood system, drug abuse, and a childhood spent traveling in a cult.

He Died In Front Of His Siblings On The Steps Of Johnny Depp's Nightclub
Photo:
Wikimedia Commons
On October 31, 1993, River had done a speedball — a mixture of a couple of drugs — and became violently ill while at The Viper Room. The Viper Room was a club owned by actor and friend, Johnny Depp. River’s siblings, Rain and Joaquin, were at the club when he began having a seizure. River was taken outside, and Joaquin called 911. Rain threw herself on top of River’s body to try to stop his seizure. He lost consciousness and passed shortly thereafter. He was 23 years old.
He May Have Been Sexually Abused While His Parents Were In A Cult
Photo:
Stand By Me
Columbia Pictures
River’s parents were missionaries for the cult Children of God. The cult later became infamous for its seedy practices, and its abuse of children. The family left the cult while River was still young.

“The Children of God was a Christian [pleasure] cult. They believed that [sleeping with someone] was a sacrament, and that sort of everyone should be engaged in it. And this, you know, extended to sort of partner swapping, and it also extended to encouraging children to, you know, engage with each other,” Gavin Edwards said, author of Last Night at the Viper Room. Edwards went on to say that children were encouraged to play with their parents and stimulate each other.

The actor himself said that he first “made love” when he was 4 years old, in an interview with Details magazine. “But, I’ve blocked it out,” he added. “I was completely celibate from 10 to 14.”
River And His Siblings Used To Sing On The Street For Money
Photo:
My Own Private Idaho
Fine Line Films
River’s parents belonged to the Children of God, a cult that became notorious for several reasons. His parents, Arlyn and John Bottom, were strapped for money as they traveled across the United States and South America with the cult. For a while, the family settled in Venezuela where the cult set up camp. The children sang on the streets for extra money.

“At an early age, River was busking on street corners, trying to spread the word and proselytize for the cult. But if he didn't bring home enough loose change that day, the family wasn't going to eat,” said Gavin Edwards, author of Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind, in an interview with NPR. “So, it was a lot of weight in a lot of different ways, on a very young child.”

When the family resettled in LA, the children kept up their street performing and that is how River was discovered.
He Was Obsessed With Hooking Up, And His Parents Helped Him Lose His Virginity
Photo:
Running On Empty
Warner Bros.
Maybe because of River’s childhood in The Children of God, he developed a strange obsession with hooking up.

“[Sleeping with someone] was nearly all that River could think about,” Corey Feldman said. "He decided it was time to lose his self-imposed 'second-virginity,' and get on with his first teen encounter." River decided to lose it to this older girl he knew, and strangely enough, he asked his parents for permission. Instead of just saying yes, his parents put a tent in the backyard for their son to get it on in, and they decorated it to enhance the mood. River was 15 years old at the time.
He Used A Lot Of Drugs, And He Knew He Was Dying The Night He OD'd
Photo:
Dogfight
Warner Bros.
River’s drug use was far more indulgent than he had let on. He gave off the impression of a child of hippies, but he was spiraling downwards into dangerous drug use. His friend, Bob Forrest of punk band Thelonious Monster, recalled the cycle of drug use that he and their friends would run through on a regular basis.

“The drug routine stayed pretty consistent for all of us. First, smoke crack or shoot coke directly into a vein for that ninety-second, electric brain-bell jangle,” Forrest said. “Then shoot heroin to get a grip and come down enough to be able to carry on a conversation for a few minutes before you start the cycle again.”

A few days before The Viper Room incident, River been hanging out with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Guitarist, John Frusciante, and had not slept. Bob recalls when he saw River at The Viper Room that Halloween night in 1993, he was looking extremely sick. When he asked River how he was, River responded, “I don’t feel so good. I think I’m OD’ing.”
He First Tried Drugs With Corey Feldman
Photo:
Stand By Me
Columbia Pictures
River knew fellow child actor, Corey Feldman from the audition circuits in LA, but the two didn’t become friends until their landmark film Stand By Me. River and Feldman first got involved with drugs and alcohol on the set of that film. This path ultimately proved fatal for River, and it nearly destroyed Feldman’s life as well. A technician on the set of the film offered them their first hit of pot.

"We both coughed a lot and had sore throats,” Feldman said. “But even though we were kind of bouncing off the walls of the hotel, neither of us seemed to be affected by it. It didn't change our state of mind in any way."

River also recalled the first time he got drunk after some local kids in Oregon (the setting for Stand By Me) offered to buy him beer:

"These kids, because this was Oregon and not LA, and because we were actors and they admired us or whatever, they'd do anything to appease us. So, they got me a forty-ouncer of beer, which I drank straight down just to show them,” River said. “The only other thing I remember about that night was laying on the railroad tracks with everything spinning all around me."
His Final Album With Aleka's Attic Was Never Released Due To Financial Disputes
Photo:
olivia sloan
Wikimedia Commons
River was gifted with artistic talents in many different mediums. On top of being a talented actor, he was also a talented musician. When they were teenagers, River and his sister Rain formed the band Aleka’s Attic. However, they never got to complete their final album because participants on the album kept vying for a cut of the profits.

"I wanted to put the record out and give the money to charities my brother felt strongly about, but I came up against some of the musicians who also played on it, wanting a lot of money for it, so I shelved it. It was meant to be something that was really beautiful, not about money. I was very happy with the way I finished it, and I love the music. I hope that one day I can release it,” Rain said.
An Incident Involving Fisherman Traumatized Him Into Becoming Vegan
Photo:
I Love You To Death
Tristar Pictures
The three eldest Phoenix children are vegans. In fact, Joaquin is especially is known for his strong vegan stance. It was a traumatizing incident that turned all the Phoenix kids vegans. In an interview with The Guardian, River’s sister Rain described how the three eldest children decided to turn vegan. They were on a ship to Florida when they witnessed how a group of fishermen were slamming live fish against nails sticking out of the side of the boat. This disturbed the children greatly, and they told their parents that they would no longer eat any animal products.
His Final Movie Was Released Almost 20 Years After His Death
Photo:
Dark Blood
Lionsgate
River passed 11 days before they were supposed to finish filming Dark Blood. Director George Sluizer threw in the towel after River's OD. But, after Sluizer suffered from a brain aneurysm and nearly perished himself, he decided it was time to finish the film. He used narration to fill in the important scenes that River never got to film. The film finally made its debut at the Dutch film festival in 2012.
His Ex-Girlfriend Traumatized His Vegan Sensitivities
Photo:
Running On Empty
Warner Bros.
When River was a teenager, he dated Martha Plimpton (Running on Empty, The Goonies) for a long time. But, apparently Plimpton didn’t realize how important River’s veganism was to him. One night during dinner she brought the young actor to tears because of what she ordered.

“Once when we were fifteen, River and I went out for this fancy dinner in Manhattan and I ordered soft-shell crabs. He left the restaurant and walked around on Park Avenue, crying,” Plimpton told Cosmopolitan in 1995. “I went out, and he said, 'I love you so much. Why?' He had such a pain that I was eating an animal, that he hadn’t impressed on me what was right. I loved him for that, for his dramatic desire that we share every belief, that I be with him all the way.”
He Was Dyslexic
Photo:
Sneakers
Universal Pictures
When River was 13-years-old he starred in an afterschool special about a boy with dyslexia, Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia, but it wasn’t common knowledge that River had dyslexia himself. George Sluizer was the Dutch director behind River’s final film, Dark Blood. Nearly 20 years after River’s passing, Sluizer recalled working with the actor and mentioned his dyslexia.

“He was special in the sense that he was very instinctive. He was dyslexic, which meant he couldn't learn two lines without making a mistake,” Sluizer said. “That meant he had to understand what he said, to feel it. That gave him a certain strength."