Breaking Bad star RJ Mitte dies by suicide aged 34

Published: 05:10 EDT, 13 October 2026 | Updated: 05:10 EDT, 13 October 2026

Breaking Bad star RJ Mitte, who found fame as Walter White Jr on the hit TV series, has died at just 34.

The actor was found dead at 1.30pm on Monday at what’s believed to be his home in Brownsville, Texas. Local officials say an investigation is underway and an autopsy will be performed.

TMZ, which was first to report the news, said that they were told Mitte died by suicide.

Devastating: Breaking Bad star RJ Mitte has died at just 34

Mitte appeared in 56 episodes of Breaking Bad from 2008 to 2013 as the son of Bryan Cranston’s leading character Walter White, a terminally ill high school chemistry teacher who creates a meth empire with former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul).

He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP) when he was three, and he went on to advocate for actors and those working in the entertainment industry with disabilities.

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Mitte and the Brownsville Police Department for further comment.

Iconic role: Mitte played Walter ‘Flynn’ White Jr on the Bryan Cranston-led drama Breaking Bad

The actor’s representative confirmed his death in a statement: ‘It is with profound sadness we share the tragic passing of beloved actor, philanthropist, and passionate disability rights advocate RJ Mitte.

‘RJ Mitte was best known for his role as Walter ‘Flynn’ White Jr on AMC’s critically acclaimed, award-winning series Breaking Bad.

‘Drawing from his own experience living with cerebral palsy, Mitte brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion. Beyond entertaining friends and family around the world, he served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children’s.’

Tragic: Mitte is believed to have died by suicide

Mitte’s shock death comes a year after the actor got engaged to his girlfriend Kennedy Suarez on her 30th birthday.

‘I’m thrilled to have found my person, my partner in life who makes me want to be better, no matter what we’re doing,’ Mitte told People.

He gushed: ‘Kennedy is my everything, and I can’t wait to officially start our life together and see what adventures life takes us on next.’

Heartbreaking: Mitte’s death comes a year after the actor got engaged to his girlfriend Kennedy Suarez

Mitte proposed at the 56th annual Dia del Sol 2025 benefit in Carlsbad, California. The fundraising event benefited United CP of San Diego, for which he was an ambassador.

Following the engagement, Suarez took to Instagram to write: ‘My 30th felt like a fairytale… I have the man of my dreams by my side & we are doing what we love most – helping others.’

Mitte and Suarez lived in Brownsville, Texas, and the actor was president of The Mitte Foundation, his family’s Austin-based charity.

The Foundation rejuvenates and funds South Texas-based marginalized communities.

CP is a group of disorders that affect movement, posture and balance due to abnormal brain development or damage.

Symptoms range from muscle stiffness and poor motor control to difficulties with balance and coordination.

Claim to fame: Mitte appeared in 56 episodes of Breaking Bad from 2008 to 2013 (pictured with lead star Cranston at the Emmys in 2012)

A number of Mitte’s former co-stars have spoken out following his passing, including Cranston and Paul.

Cranston said that he is ‘in deep despair’ after his on-screen son’s passing as he shared a heartbreaking Instagram tribute, writing: ‘I’ll miss you, son.’

The actor said that it was ‘especially devastating’ that Mitte ‘took his own life’ as the two had recently been texting and making plans to meet up for lunch.

‘RJ Mitte, my sweet son on Breaking Bad has died,’ he wrote alongside a photo of them together. ‘I met him when he was only 14 years old when he was cast as Walter White Jr, a part he played with such joy and enthusiasm.

‘Born with Cerebral Palsy, he never – ever – allowed that challenge to be an excuse for anything. He met the demanding shooting schedule head on with great determination.’

Popular series: Mitte is seen with Cranston and Anna Gunn on Breaking Bad in 2008

Cranston said that Mitte was ‘always listening to the advice that his TV parents (Anna Gunn and myself) gave him – but being a teenager, sometimes mischievously ignoring the counsel in order to learn the hard way… He was one of the stars of a hit TV show – but still a kid.’

‘That kid was pretty raw when we started shooting the pilot in February of 2007, but little by little we watched him grow into a really fine actor.

‘He parlayed his experience on the show to be a vocal advocate for performers with disabilities, and was the head of a philanthropic organization with a focus on helping the disabled community. All that promise and potential now is such a loss.’

Cranston went on: ‘It is especially devastating to hear that he took his own life. Why? We were texting each other just a few weeks ago – figuring out when we could meet for lunch. I don’t know if that lunch would have changed his future…

‘But I do know that I loved him, and thoroughly enjoyed being with him throughout the years on the series, and after the spotlight on Breaking Bad dimmed… I’ll miss you, son.’

Meanwhile Paul, who played Jesse Pinkman in the show, told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘I am at a loss.

‘I am heartbroken over this news. RJ, I love you my friend. You will be missed. And to whoever happens to be reading this, please know you are loved, and you are not alone. Always remember that.’

Rest in peace: Mitte is pictured with his fiancee Suarez in October 2025

Dean Norris, who played Hank Schrader, Mitte’s on-screen uncle, wrote on X: ‘Oh my God! Was working just found out about RJ. I am heartbroken. Though RJ didn’t play my TV son, I always looked out for him as a young kid on set.

‘He was a sweetheart of a young man and will be greatly missed. This is so heartbreaking, I can’t believe it. Thinking of him and his family.’

During his life, Mitte called for larger representation of disabled actors on television.

‘Representation is everything, as we’ve seen over the last ten years with the growth of representation on television,’ he told WUWF in 2023.

‘Having positive influences of individuals with disabilities, not just cerebral palsy, but all of them, changes the mindset. TV is something that we all share; we all watch. TV really brings communities together in a way that you might not realize through social outlet.

‘I think that can really inspire individuals, and that can do wonders for confidence and self-esteem. If you see a character that’s going through the same struggle as you, and they’re succeeding, and in your life you may not be, it can help inspire you to get that extra push,’ he added.

Heartbreaking: Cranston and Norris both left touching tributes to their former co-star

In 2016, Mitte described how much he would ‘love’ to turn on the TV to watch a disabled person discuss something ‘that doesn’t just focus on their impairment.’

‘We know lots of progress is being made, but the industry must do more to help disabled people work both in front of and behind the camera,’ he told the Irish Examiner, according to Variety. ‘During the Paralympics there will be more disabled people than ever before on TV, but this shouldn’t be something that just happens every four years.’

‘I would love to switch on my TV and see a disabled person talking about something they are genuinely interested in or acting out a part that doesn’t just focus on their impairment.’

Mitte also credited his disability for taking him in the direction he wound down: ‘I wouldn’t be in the position I am in today without my disability,’ he said. ‘I utilized everything I know about living with cerebral palsy for my role in Breaking Bad.’

In 2019, five years after Breaking Bad, Mitte admitted he still missed being a part of the show’s cast.

‘That’s going to follow me ’til the day I die,’ he told The Sydney Morning Herald as he reflected on his time on the hit AMC series.

The role took Mitte’s career to a whole new level and ‘opened a lot of doors’ for him.

‘Breaking Bad put me on the map,’ he told The Independent in 2021. ‘You’re only talking to me today because of it. None of my projects would exist without that show and the opportunity it gave me. It really opened a lot of doors for me. I wouldn’t have the media profile and the following that I have today without Walter White Jr. I would just be some kid who lives in Texas.’

Tribute: Actor Matt Jones, who played Brandon ‘Badger’ Mayhew on the series, left an emotional message

Emotional: Actor Anson Mount posted a picture of himself with Mitte, saying the actor ‘had a beautiful soul’

In dozens of text messages obtained by the Daily Mail, Mitte spoke candidly about the difficulties he encountered as an actor with cerebral palsy and questioned why the industry was reluctant to cast performers with disabilities.

The actor repeatedly expressed his determination to continue working, develop his own projects, and challenge an entertainment industry he believed was failing to recognize the abilities of disabled performers.

His messages, sent to a longtime friend over eight years, reveal a passionate – and sometimes frustrated – advocate who wanted to be judged on his talent rather than his physical limitations.

In a text dated April 7, 2017, Mitte described uncomfortable encounters with casting directors.

‘When I go for a part, they sometimes tell me that it’s not a character with a disability, and I’m like why can’t the character be disabled?’ he wrote.

‘They get real uncomfortable when I say that.’

Upsetting: Notable names such as James Gunn, Marlee Matlin and Vincent Martella expressed their grief amid news of the actor’s passing

The distinction was important to the actor, who had already demonstrated his abilities playing Walter White Jr, the son of Bryan Cranston’s meth-dealing chemistry teacher on AMC’s critically acclaimed Breaking Bad.

A source close to Cranston told the Daily Mail the actor was ‘heartbroken’ and still processing the loss of RJ.

The show ran from 2008 until 2013 and transformed Mitte into one of Hollywood’s most recognizable actors with a disability.

But Mitte expressed frustration that his teenaged success did not translate into the kinds of opportunities he hoped would follow.

‘I can do any role, but some of [the casting agents and directors] are a**h***s who won’t even look at me,’ he wrote in another message in April 2017.

‘I want to put them on blast, but I won’t now.’

Mitte continued auditioning and accepting work, including projects that filmed outside the United States.

In December 2017, he described working on a television pilot that ultimately failed to move forward.

‘Worked on a pilot that didn’t go, a few months ago. Brutal biz,’ he wrote.

Two years later, after completing an indie film project in Australia, he acknowledged the practical difficulties of maintaining a career in an unpredictable industry.

‘I did a job in Sydney, and it was fun,’ he wrote in February 2019.

‘But it’s a film not going to be here, it’s Australian, I hope I can find stuff here. I would like to work enough to keep my [health] insurance. Pain in the ass lol.’

When the entertainment industry shut down in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, Mitte continued looking for opportunities.

In June 2020, he described completing a project in Canada and doing voice work.

The following day, he expressed interest in obtaining additional publicity to remind casting directors that he was available for hire.

‘I’ve got to figure out more work,’ he wrote. ‘I need to keep myself relevant lol.’

He then offered to participate in video interviews and other promotional opportunities.

‘I just need to remind people to book me.’

By March 2021, Mitte believed the pandemic had created another obstacle for disabled performers, complaining that some people in the entertainment industry appeared to regard actors with disabilities as greater health or insurance risks.

‘Gotta convince people that I’m not going to die of Covid,’ he wrote.

‘There’s a backlash about people with disabilities, they think that we can’t be insured or that we are going to die in the middle of a scene, its bullshit.

Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age three, Mitte wore leg braces and sometimes used crutches or a wheelchair throughout childhood. By adulthood, the most noticeable effects were on his left hand and his speech.

He became a prominent advocate for greater inclusion in entertainment, serving as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children’s.

Mitte argued that disabled actors deserved opportunities both in front of and behind the camera, and that television audiences should see people with disabilities portrayed in ordinary, multifaceted roles.

In 2016, he publicly challenged the industry to expand its representation beyond occasional disability-focused storylines.

‘I would love to switch on my TV and see a disabled person talking about something they are genuinely interested in or acting out a part that doesn’t just focus on their impairment,’ he said.

His private messages reveal that the issue remained deeply personal.

In April 2022, shortly after turning 30, Mitte complained to his friend that some of the scripts he was receiving offered little more than tokenism.

‘Looking for interesting stuff to do, getting a lot of scripts where I would be a prop and they don’t want to give any depth, 3 lines if that,’ he wrote. ‘I’m writing my own s**t now.’

Four months later, he expressed renewed frustration with the scarcity of on-screen opportunities. ‘Just doing animation, no one wants me on screen.. it’s annoying as f***.’

As recently as July 2025, he was considering a new challenge: reality television.

In messages to his friend, Mitte said he had softened to the idea of appearing in a competition series that would allow him to demonstrate his abilities to an audience that might know him primarily from Breaking Bad.

He specifically mentioned Dancing with the Stars, saying that participating in the show could challenge assumptions about what performers with cerebral palsy were capable of.

But he was adamant that any appearance should preserve his dignity rather than turn his disability into a spectacle.

‘Now I would do a good reality show, was thinking that dancing would be a good fit, just to show that I can do that s***,’ he wrote.

‘But I would have to make sure that any reality would be dignity, I don’t want to be laughed at, but would consider something that could give me a platform.’

His private messages show that he believed there were many more characters he could play, stories he could tell and assumptions he could challenge.

‘There’s a lot I could do, if given the chance,’ another text read.

Mitte’s frustrations with Hollywood remained present as recently as last week when he appeared on The Joe Vulpis Podcast, where he suggested he only got the role because the character was based on a real person with cerebral palsy.

‘I think casting individuals with disabilities is very tricky,’ Mitte said.

‘My character was written with someone with [cerebral] palsy [in mind]. That was from the beginning. That was always the case.

‘My character Walt Junior was based on a real person, a friend [Director] Vince [Gilligan] had in college who had cerebral palsy, who used forearm crutches and sometime after passed away.

‘And so it really felt real playing this character and getting into the groove with this character.’

If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org