River Phoenix’s mother remembers late son on his birthday: “He is very much alive in me”

Arlyn ‘Heart’ Phoenix, mother of the late River Phoenix, has paid tribute to her son on what would have been his 53rd birthday. Taking to social media on Wednesday (August 23), Heart remembered River, the oldest of her five children, who died of a drug overdose in 1993 aged 23. “August 23, 1970…one of the most amazing days of my life…bringing Earthbound a living being…truly a touch of the most sacred,” she wrote in an Instagram caption accompanied a photo with the timestamp ’88, which shows a teenage River with a guitar strapped over his shoulder. “Just as he tried to do with most people, River Jude embraced each of his siblings (who entered through the same portal after him) with his humor, wisdom, authenticity, talent, compassion, vulnerability and undying Love.”