Kindergarten Cop child star Christian Cousins dies at 43 of liver disease

Death announced on Instagram

Christian Cousins, a former child actor, died at the age of 43 of liver disease. His half-brother Jonas Roeser announced the death on Instagram and wrote that Cousins had been "very sick" before he died. Stern and The Independent say Roeser made the death public in October, while El Periódico says the actor died that month, so the exact timing differs between sources. The death became widely known only in mid-November. Roeser's post included a carousel of photographs of his brother, and he wrote that the pain Cousins carried is gone and that he now believes his brother is in heaven with their mother.

“It's hard to share that my brother, Christian Cousins, has passed away.”

A family story told in a tribute

Roeser explained that he and the twins share a biological father, and that he only met them during his college years. The brothers grew up in California while he lived in Washington state, and as a boy he had watched them on television in Knots Landing and in Kindergarten Cop. In his tribute he said the screen roles were only a small part of how he would remember Christian.

“He was a character, full of passion and energy, with big stories and even bigger dreams.”

Roeser closed his tribute by saying his brother would be missed, and he added that he hoped Cousins had found peace.

Twin roles in Kindergarten Cop and Knots Landing

Cousins and his twin brother Joey, born in March 1983 in California according to 20 Minutes, shared the role of Dominic Palmieri in the 1990 comedy Kindergarten Cop. Dominic is the son of teacher Joyce Palmieri, played by Penelope Ann Miller, and the film starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as an LAPD detective posing as a kindergarten teacher. The brothers' first acting role came in the fantasy series Highway to Heaven at the age of five, according to The Independent. From 1987 to 1992 they played Bobby Gibson Ewing in almost 60 episodes of Knots Landing. Other credits named in the coverage include Critters 3 and Eerie, Indiana, and The Independent identifies Twin Sitters as their final acting role.

A 2020 reunion with Schwarzenegger

In December 2020 the cast met on a video call, organised by Yahoo Entertainment, to mark the film's 30th anniversary. Arnold Schwarzenegger joined the call unexpectedly. Cousins used the conversation to thank him for saving his character from Richard Tyson's character in a locker-room scene. By then Cousins had left acting, and during the call he described himself as one half of the team that brought Dominic to life. El Periódico reports that he had worked in the furniture sector, reaching a management post, and co-owned a CBD business.