The past two weeks have been pretty tragic in terms of unexpected deaths of young celebrity men. Between the death of Brad Renfro, 25, and Heath Ledger, 28, there’s been a lot of drama and sadness. Since Brad’s funeral, it’s come to light that he had a son, listed on in his obituary as “Y Renfro.” Us Weekly reports that Brad’s son’s name is Yamato, he’s four years old, and he lives in Japan with his mother. They also say Brad was seriously considering marrying Y’s mother, and had a longing for family.
… a week before his death he visited his family in Knoxville, Tennessee. "In other years, we had to babysit him," his cousin Jesse Hasek told Us. "This time, he was like, 'I've got it figured out.' It was the happiest I've seen him." In Knoxville, Renfro glowed about his 4-year-old son, Yamato, who lives in Japan full-time with his mom. (Yamato was "unplanned," Hasek told Us, and his mother is "a friend he had over there.")
"He asked me, 'Do you think I should marry her? I like the feeling of family,'" Hasek recalled. "It crushed Brad that his kid lived on the other side of the world. He was saying, 'I should bring them over permanently and be a part of their lives.'"
[From Us Weekly]
Us also reports that Brad’s roommates were letting him live with them rent free to help him stay off of drugs. They report that Samantha Pearson, Brad’s on-and-off girlfriend spoke with him 12 hours before his body was found, and said he was drunk. She said he was has happy and laughing, and she asked him to please be careful. Toxicology reports still aren’t back from the lab, so we have no official confirmation of how Renfro died. It sounds like he was in a bit of a two steps forward, one step back place in his life, but he was generally working on his issues. It’s a sad end for Brad and his family and especially his young son. 
