Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s mom, Pamela Warner, is recalling her heartbreaking reaction to finding out about her son’s death.
Pamela shared in a Tuesday, September 16, sit-down with Good Morning America that she let out a scream “from the bottom of [her] soul” when she learned of his death — with the sound alerting people at the end of her cul-de-sac, who came running.
“What came up and what came out was huge,” she said. “It was an indescribable pain that resonated throughout my body.”
In July, Malcolm-Jamal died at age 54 after an accidental drowning on a beach in Costa Rica. Officials later confirmed that his death was caused by asphyxia due to submersion.
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Pamela explained that Malcolm-Jamal’s wife and daughter had been in Costa Rica for three weeks before the actor joined them, noting that her granddaughter was participating in an “immersion program” for her homeschool.
Despite reports that the actor died trying to save his daughter in the water, Pamela claimed that Malcolm-Jamal — who was known for his role as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show — was with another man when they were caught by a current.
“They were in the water, I think maybe chest-deep at, even at that,” Pamela said. “Maybe waist-deep. There was an undertow and my son was not an experienced swimmer. He did not know how to deal with an undertow.”
Pamela claimed that the other man was a “more experienced swimmer” who was able to “rescue himself,” while Malcolm-Jamal “was not.”
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In the aftermath of his death, Pamela shared that she is “at peace with everything that happened” and noted that it was “his time.”
“There was nothing left on the table,” she said. “There was no shoulda, coulda, woulda. I wish I would have said this, I wish I would have done this. I don’t have that. I feel that our journey together as mother and son was complete.”
Malcolm-Jamal’s wife, Tenisha Warner, and daughter, however, are still coming to terms with his death.
“Children process differently,” Pamela noted. “She watched them resuscitate him, try to resuscitate him. She saw that, and I know that’s awfully, awfully traumatic. She loved her father dearly. She adored papa. He was papa. And so they’re both in deep grief.”
Pamela’s interview came days after Tenisha broke her silence on Malcom-Jamal’s death after previously staying out of the spotlight. In an Instagram post shared on Friday, September 12, Tenisha revealed that she and her daughter were “officially opening The Warner Family Foundation” to “carry the legacy my husband and I began — one that nurtures children’s inner light and gives young artists the freedom to create outside the lines. This is love, Still moving. Still making. Still carrying us forward.”
