Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Mom Breaks Silence On His Tragic Drowning Death With New Details

Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s mother is sharing new insight into his tragic death. Pamela Warner broke her silence on the devastating loss in a new interview with “Good Morning America’s” Robin Roberts, reflecting on the visceral pain she felt over first hearing the news. “It was from the bottom of my soul. And what came up and what came out was huge, it was an indescribable pain that resonated throughout my body,” she said, explaining that she screamed so loudly her neighbors could hear her. Pamela went on to explain that despite her intense physical reaction, she’s moving forward with a larger perspective. “The spiritual part of it was — that was his time,” she said. “This is what I believe and what I feel.” Malcolm-Jamal passed away in July after drowning on a family trip to Costa Rica. He was 54. Pamela clarified reports that the actor’s daughter was swimming with him at the time of the accident, noting that she wasn’t in the water but was present as responders attempted to save his life. “Children process differently. She watched them try to resuscitate him, so she saw that, and I know that’s awfully, awfully traumatic,” Pamela said of her granddaughter. “She loved her father dearly. She adored papa — he was papa.” Malcolm-Jamal had kept his family life fiercely private prior to his death and never publicly confirmed his wife or daughter’s identity. His wife, Tenisha, revealed herself days before Pamela’s interview aired, sharing in an Instagram post that she was launching the Warner Family Foundation in Malcolm-Jamal’s memory as well as the River & Ember initiative that honors “the quiet power of connection between parent and child.”