River Phoenix's surviving sister, Rain Phoenix, is revealing how her brother's accidental overdose changed her relationship with and understanding of death. "When I was 20, my brother River died," Rain, 52, wrote in an essay for Another Jane Pratt Thing published on Friday, October 31. "The experience of losing him was unimaginably painful and traumatic. Further compounded by the intense media coverage around his tragic death which felt invasive and cruel." River died by accidental drug overdose on October 30, 1993. He was 23.