Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s mother opened up in an interview Monday about the sudden loss of her son.
In her first interview since “The Cosby Show” star’s passing, Pamela Warner shared new details about the accidental drowning that led to his death.
“His wife and daughter had been in Costa Rica three weeks prior,” Pamela told “Good Morning America’s” Robin Roberts. “She is homeschooled, and this was part of an immersion program.” Malcolm later arrived in Costa Rica on the third week.
His mother also confirmed her granddaughter was not in the water with the actor when he drowned.
“They were in the water, I think maybe chest deep, even at that — maybe waist deep,” she said of her son and another man who was swimming near him. “There was an undertow, and my son was not an experienced swimmer. He did not know how to deal with an undertow.”
“The same [undertow] happened to the other gentleman, but he was a more experienced swimmer and he was able to rescue himself. But Malcolm was not.”
When asked about the moment she learned of her son’s death, Pamela said she screamed “from the bottom of my soul.”
“What came up and what came out was huge, it was an indescribable pain that resonated throughout my body.”
Malcom’s wife and daughter are “both in deep grief,” she shared.
“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 the 8-year-old. “She loved her father dearly. She adored papa — he was papa.”
The interview comes days after Phylicia Rashad honored her TV son at the 77th Primetime Emmy awards at the start of the ceremony’s “In Memoriam.”
“He was a beloved teenager in an iconic television series who the world watched grow into manhood,” Rashad said on stage.
“And like all our friends and colleagues who transitioned this past year, Malcolm-Jamal Warner remains in our hearts.”
