Samantha Mathis was so devastated by River Phoenix’s death that she hasn’t spoken openly about it in more than 25 years. She decided to speak out with The Guardian in July 2019 to mark the anniversary of the tragic day. “What came to my mind last year around the anniversary was, ‘Oh, that happened to me too and it has impacted my life in a profound way, more than I can understand after all these years of therapy,'” Mathis said. “I had to talk about it myself. She said the people in her life today don’t understand how much the death of Phoenix affected her.
Mathis didn’t stop working after the harrowing event in 1993, but she eventually had to stop. Her mother, fellow actress Bibi Besch, died of breast cancer a few years after Phoenix’s death. This led to a hiatus for the actor. « It was just too much loss. I had to stop, »said Mathis. « I retired from the business for two years. I fell apart » She was 26 when she made this decision and had to take the time to regroup.
