River Phoenix’s Mom Says She’ll ‘Never Not Miss Him’ 31 Years After His Death: I ‘Continue to Celebrate Him’

River Phoenix’s family is honoring him 31 years after his death.

Sharing a photo of a deer, the Stand by Me actor’s mother Arlyn “Heart” Phoenix wrote on Instagram, “My son River passed over on this day, October 31, 1993. He was 23 years old and that was 31 years ago.”

“I will never not miss him, and at the same time, I have never stopped feeling him inside and out in the most wonderful ways,” continued Heart, 79. “The warm tears flow and I love and cherish them. I sit by my altar in prayer some days and bask in the glory that he left burning inside of me.”

She went on to say that “everything that reminds” of her oldest child “and his life, the life that I brought to Earth,” helps her “continue to celebrate him and all that we learned together.”

“He was not taken away, he left for a better day. I hope that you know that Love never dies nor does the Soul,” Heart added.

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River died on Halloween 1993 from a drug overdose while out at Los Angeles nightclub The Viper Room with his then-girlfriend Samantha Mathis and siblings Joaquin and Rain Phoenix.

Rain, 51, also paid tribute to her brother on social media, sharing a throwback photo of River alongside two memorable quotes of his.

” ‘Although I can’t stop all cruelty to living creatures on the planet, I can be kinder to every living creature in my life.’ – River Phoenix,” read the first, which the second quoted, ” ‘I’ve learned that if you can’t get it all together to accomplish this thing called peace, you do at least your part in your life, because that’s where you can truly make an immediate difference.’ – River Phoenix.”

“31 years … honoring River’s message of harmlessness today,” Rain’s caption also read.

In her post, Heart also shared lyrics River had written for Brazilian singer Milton “Bituca” Nascimento’s 1990 album Txai, explaining, “He was concerned about the devastation of the Amazon Rainforest and indigenous people the world over.”

“Here are the lyrics and a taste of the genius of this young man as he navigated through the destruction that we humans have caused on the planet … all those years ago,” she wrote in part, before sharing snippets of the lyrics.

In August 2023, Heart shared a message on River’s birthday, calling it “one of the most amazing days of my life.”

“The greatest pain I experienced in my life was the pain of natural childbirth and even tho quite different, the pain of my son’s passing,” she wrote at the time.

“But almost instantaneously on both occasions, the gifts that he brought were imbued in each of us and so we carry on celebrating his life for those 23 precious years,” she continued.

“There are no guarantees in life and I don’t believe any of us were promised that we would not experience ‘tragic moments.’ I count it one of the greatest blessings by living in the moment and drawing upon inner knowing as a sacred pathway to navigate through life’s many challenges. River’s life and death taught me that, in no uncertain terms.”