*The sudden loss of actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner in July 2025 has left his family in profound sorrow, with his 8-year-old daughter and wife navigating immense grief. During a family vacation in Costa Rica, Warner drowned, and his mother, Pamela, recently opened up about the tragedy on “Good Morning America.”
“She loved her father dearly,” Pamela said of her granddaughter, PEOPLE reports. “She adored Papa. He was Papa. And so they’re both in deep grief.”
Pamela clarified conflicting reports about the incident, emphasizing that Warner’s daughter was not in the water at the time of the drowning. “She was not in the water. He was with another gentleman,” Pamela said, explaining that Warner and a friend were caught in an undertow while in chest- or waist-deep water. “There was an undertow, and my son was not an experienced swimmer. He did not know how to deal with an undertow.”
The traumatic event unfolded in front of Warner’s daughter, who witnessed resuscitation efforts. “She watched them resuscitate him, try to resuscitate him. She saw that, and I know that’s awfully, awfully traumatic,” Pamela shared.
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The family had been in Costa Rica for a Spanish immersion program for Warner’s homeschooled daughter. “His wife and daughter had been in Costa Rica three weeks prior,” Pamela told host Robin Roberts. “She is homeschooled, and this was part of an immersion program.”
Official accounts of the incident differ. Elberth Leon, Chief of the Tourist Police in the Atlanta Region, told Us Weekly that Warner and his daughter were caught in a rip current while bathing together. “They were bathing together and were caught by a rip current,” Leon said.
“Obviously, as a father, he fought for his daughter, but the current in that area is very strong, and they couldn’t accomplish the objective.” However, Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) reported that Warner was playing with his daughter on the shoreline before entering the water with a friend. “It was at that moment that the current pulled them in; the friend managed to get out, but unfortunately, Mr. Warner did not,” the OIJ noted.
Despite immediate efforts by beachgoers and 20 minutes of CPR by Red Cross responders, Warner was pronounced dead at the scene on July 20. An autopsy on July 22 confirmed his death was due to accidental asphyxiation by submersion.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Honoring Malcolm-Jamal Warner on His Birthday: Celebrating Theo Huxtable’s Legacy | EUR Exclusive
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