Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Mother Explains Circumstances of His Tragic Death

Pamela Warner, the mother of late actor/musician Malcolm-Jamal Warner, is sharing details about his death at age 54. The former Cosby Show star drowned off the coast of Costa Rica back in July. Mrs. Warner appeared on Good Morning America to discuss what happened to her son. 

She shared that he’d been swimming with another man when he was overcome. 

“They were in the water, I think maybe chest-deep at, even at that," Pamela Warner told host Robin Roberts. "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."

She said that her son’s inexperience led to his drowning — while the other man was able to save himself.

"He was a more experienced swimmer, but Malcolm was not," she said.

She also clarified that Warner’s 8-year-old daughter was not with him in the water — contrary to some conflicting reports that claimed he’d drowned trying to save his daughter. 

"She was on shore," Pamela Warner said. "She was not in the water."

The news of her son’s death left her reeling, with Warner sharing that she cried out so loudly that her neighbors could hear her. "What came up and what came out was huge," she said. "It was an indescribable pain that resonated through my body."

But Pamela Warner says she has made her peace with Malcolm’s passing.

“I'm very grateful that I was chosen to be his mother. I think more than anything, I'm at peace with everything that happened. There was nothing left on the table.

"There was no shoulda, coulda woulda. I wish I would have said this, I wish I would have done this," she continued. "I don't have that. I feel that our journey together as mother and son was complete."