Last July, the news of Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s death shocked many when he was visiting his family in Costa Rica.
His mother, at last, has broken silence about his death, which happened while drowning in the sea.
In an interview with Good Morning America, Robin Roberts shares that the Cosby star was in the Central American country to attend the event for her daughter’s immersion program.
“His wife and daughter had been in Costa Rica three weeks prior. She’s homeschooled and this was part of an immersion program and so that was the last week… for the husbands to come and this was the fun part,” she continues.
But what was believed to be a union with the family ended up being a nightmare. Robin reveals what made his son drown.
“They were in the water, I think maybe chest deep at even at that, maybe waist deep,” she shares, referring to another man who was with Malcom at the time the incident happened.
“There was an undertow and my son was not an experienced swimmer. He did not know how to deal with an undertow,” Robin says, pointing to a strong underwater current.
The late actor’s mother shares that, unlike his son, the other man “was a more experienced swimmer, and he was able to rescue himself, but Malcolm was not.”
When this was happening, Robin revealed that Malcom’s daughter was “on shore,” watching first responders work on her dad to resuscitate him.
“Children process differently,” she reveals. “She watched them resuscitate him, try to resuscitate him.”
“So she saw that, and I know that’s awfully, awfully traumatic. She loved her father dearly. She adored Papa. He was Papa.”
Malcolm left behind his daughter and wife Tenisha. He was 54.
