Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s mother, Pamela Warner, is opening up about the death of her son.
Warner, best known for his role as Theodore Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” died off the coast of Costa Rica in July after drowning.
The actor was brought to shore by a volunteer lifeguard and another surfer, police said at the time. The Forensic Pathology Department ruled Warner’s death as accidental.
Robin Roberts and Pamela Warner appear in this still from an interview.
Heidi Gutman/ABC
‘They were in the water, I think maybe chest-deep at, even at that,” Pamela Warner told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts in an exclusive interview. “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.”
Warner’s mother also clarified conflicting details surrounding his death, which reports previously stated that the actor drowned trying to save his daughter, who had been in Costa Rica three weeks prior with his wife for an immersion program.
“She was on shore,” Pamela Warner said. “She was not in the water.”
Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner (R) and Pamela Warner arrive at the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 8, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
Axelle/bauer-griffin/FilmMagic
Instead, Pamela Warner said that her son was in the water with another man who was also caught in the undertow, but was able to rescue himself.
“He was a more experienced swimmer, but Malcolm was not,” she said.
The day Pamela Warner found out about the death of her son, she said that she let out a scream “from the bottom of my soul,” which alerted those who live near her.
“What came up and what came out was huge,” she said. “It was an indescribable pain that resonated through my body.”
Pamela Warner appears in this image.
ABC/Heidi Gutman
While her son’s death is still painful, Pamela Warner said that she is “at peace with everything that happened” and said that it was “his time.”
“That was his time,” she explained. “That was the manner in which he was to transition, and this is what I believe and what I feel.”
Pamela Warner said she’s comforted by the deep conversations they shared through the years.
She added, “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.”
Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner and mother Pamela Warner attending ‘Native Son’ on December 8, 1986 at the Apollo Theater in New York City, New York.
Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Warner is survived by his wife, Tenisha Warner, and their daughter. Pamela Warner said that they’re both still grieving Warner.
“Children process differently,” Pamela Warner said about her granddaughter. “She watched them resuscitate him, try to resuscitate him. She saw that, and I know that’s awfully, awfully traumatic.”
She added, “She loved her father dearly. She adored papa. He was papa. And so they’re both in deep grief.”
On Sept. 12, Tenisha Warner took to Instagram for the first time since her husband’s death and shared a photo from their wedding day.
In a post, she thanked everyone for “holding us in so much love during this tender time,” and said that the following day would mark their wedding anniversary.
Pamela Warner says she is working to honor her son’s memory and is asking others to continue supporting his legacy.
“Support the MJW Living Legacy page,” she said, referring to an Instagram page she started to honor her son.
“And love where you can, give when you can. Just be better. Just be better,” Pamela Warner continued. “Because that’s what he wanted, and that’s what he was working toward. We can all be better selves.”
