Malcolm-Jamal Warner was swimming with his 8-year-old daughter when he fatally drowned
According to ABC News, 'The Cosby Show' alum was swimming with his 8-year-old daughter at the time.
According to police officials, surfers saw Warner and his daughter struggling in the water. A surfer dove in and brought the child back to safety on his board.
Advertisement
10 Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
FOX Image Collection via Getty Images
A volunteer lifeguard then pulled Warner and a second surfer back to shore, where the 'Malcolm and Eddie' star was given CPR for 45 minutes, per the report.
On Monday, Costa Rican National Police confirmed to The Post that bystanders had pulled Warner from the water and taken him to shore.
Advertisement
The Costa Rica Red Cross made revival efforts, but the attempts were unsuccessful.
Warner's body was transported to the morgue at San Joaquin de Flores for an autopsy. His cause of death is listed as asphyxiation by 'submersion.'
On Wednesday, TMZ reported that Warner's body has been released to the family. He will be flown back to Los Angeles.
Advertisement
10 Malcolm-Jamal Warner holds his daughter's hand in an Instagram pic.
malcolmjamalwar/Instagram
Sources told the outlet that the sitcom star's body will leave Costa Rica on Thursday and arrive in Los Angeles on Friday morning.
According to the insiders, the U.S. Embassy is working alongside Warner's family to return his body to the United States.
Another source revealed to TMZ that Warner was in Costa Rica with his daughter for a home-schooling program. His wife was allegedly not in the country at the time of his death and learned about the tragedy over the phone.
Advertisement
10 Malcolm-Jamal Warner's daughter riding a horse.
malcolmjamalwar/Instagram
10 An image of Malcolm-Jamal Warner's daughter visiting the horse stables.
malcolmjamalwar/Instagram
After the Emmy nominee's accidental drowning, Playa Grande lifeguards claim they were 'not present' on the beach when the incident occurred due to lack of 'resources.'
'We deeply regret the passing of Malcolm-Jamal Warner at Playa Grande. He was swept away by a strong rip current and died by drowning,' Costa Rica's volunteer lifeguard association, Caribbean Guard, stated on Monday via Facebook.
'It all happened very quickly, and although there were people on the beach who entered the water to rescue him, they did not arrive in time. He was pulled from underwater without vital signs, and despite CPR maneuvers being performed on the beach, resuscitation was unsuccessful,' the message continued.
10 Malcolm-Jamal Warner and his daughter at their home.
malcolmjamalwar/Instagram
The Guard went on to explain how Playa Grande is well known by 'local surfers' but is one of their 'most challenging beaches.'
The statement added that there are signs placed along the beach in both Spanish and English 'warning of the danger of death due to drowning.' The Guard shared they had patrolled there 'over the past few years,' but not at the time of Warner's death.
Advertisement
'Due to recent aquatic incidents in Playa Negra, we had redirected resources there and to Chiquita, another iconic beach known for its strong currents,' the statement noted.
10 Malcolm-Jamal Warner plays with his toddler daughter.
The social media post included a message addressed to Costa Rica President Rodrigo Chaves Robles and the government.
'From Caribbean Guard, a volunteer lifeguard association, we make an urgent appeal to the President of the Nation, the national government, the Municipality of Talamanca, and the entire Caribbean community to continue joining forces to minimize this problem, which, sadly, is on the rise ACROSS THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.'
Advertisement
'We do everything within our reach,' concluded the statement. 'We have saved numerous lives in recent years, and if Caribbean Guard didn't exist, the number of drownings would be counted in dozens. We give everything we have to minimize the risks, but without help from the government, clear public policies, and strong support from local business owners, this will continue to happen.'
10 Malcolm-Jamal Warner holds his daughter as a baby.
malcolmjamalwar/Instagram
Warner first rose to fame playing Theodore 'Theo' Huxtable, the son of Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable, in 'The Cosby Show.'
The sitcom ran on NBC for eight seasons from 1984 to 1992. Warner garnered a 1986 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Advertisement
In 2021, the late star spoke with The Post about the legacy of the series after Cosby's sexual assault conviction before it was overturned.
10 'The Cosby Show' cast.
NBCUniversal via Getty Images
'I can understand why some people can't watch the show and enjoy it because of everything that's going on now,' Warner said. 'But I think … there's a generation of young people who have pursued higher education or have started loving families because of the influence of that show.'
'So it's kind of like, you can't discount its impact on television culture and American culture,' he added. Cosby addressed Warner's death, revealing it felt like losing his own son, who was murdered in 1997.
Advertisement
'While I was their TV dad, I never stopped being a father to them,' he told The Post through his rep.
Prior to his death, Warner had relocated from Hollywood to Atlanta, Georgia, during his multi-season run on the Fox show 'The Resident' from 2018 to 2023.
10 Malcolm-Jamal Warner at the Recording Academy Honors.
ZUMAPRESS.com
'I think he decided to come to Atlanta just because it felt a bit more grounded. It felt more like a home to him,' Dashiell Smith, one of the actor's best friends and bandmates, told The Post on Wednesday.
After purchasing a $1.3 million, five-bedroom house in the suburb of Decatur, Warner told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2023 that, 'Music and my wife and daughter keep me from losing my s–t.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
39 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Before-and-after photos show how a woman boosted her home's curb appeal with a mudroom and statement arch
Steffy Degreff's home has changed a lot since she and her husband bought it in late 2017. Degreff, a full-time content creator, and her husband, Matt Degreff, bought their home in Long Beach, New York, in 2017. They have been raising their sons, Hudson, 8, and Charlie, 5, and their dog, Claude Pepper, there ever since. When they bought the house, which was originally built in 1954, it had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. However, the Degreffs did a big renovation in 2019. Now, it has three bathrooms, and they converted an attic into an additional bedroom. "To be honest, when we bought it, I don't think we viewed it as a forever home," Degreff told Business Insider. "It needed so much work that it was overwhelming to think that we would be the people to do that work, but everything that's good takes time." "Now, eight years later, it's finally in a place where I don't feel like we have anything massive to do on it anymore," she added. Degreff has been putting her personal, whimsical stamp on her home for years. Although their big renovation took place years ago, Degreff updates her home almost constantly, taking on DIY projects and documenting them on her social media pages. She paints areas of her home throughout the year and makes small additions in her personal style, which she describes as "vintage grandma." Some of her projects are meant to be temporary, like painting doors or windows, while others are longer-term. For instance, Degreff constructed built-in bookshelves for one room in her house, painting them green and adding floral touches to the doorway next to them. "A lot of the bigger projects I do with permanence in mind," she told BI. "If I'm putting up built-in bookshelves or redoing paneling in a bedroom, chances are I'm not ripping that out. But paint is just such a fun way to change your vibe year to year." Although they had personalized their home, there was still one part of the house that wasn't working for the Degreffs by 2024: the entryway. From the outside, a simple staircase led to the Degreffs' front door, which had a small patio next to it. Inside, guests entered the living room. "I always knew that the entry to my home was less than ideal," Degreff told BI. "People would walk in, and we had nowhere to put our coats. We had no coat closet. It was freezing in the winter." In 2024, the Degreff family reached a breaking point with the entrance to their home. They decided they wanted an entryway that would provide storage, make their living area warmer, and fit the aesthetic of their home. The Degreffs decided to extend the front of their home to make space for the mudroom and a statement archway. Degreff said she got inspiration for the renovation from other homes in her area. "I started walking around the neighborhood and getting ideas, and the really cool thing about Long Beach is that there's a multitude of home styles," she said, including Spanish, Victorian, and Cape Cod houses. "No two homes are exactly alike, which brings an endless amount of inspiration." As she studied homes in her neighborhood, Degreff found herself drawn to the ones with rounded doors, but she didn't want to commit to the nontraditional shape. "I started to think outside the box of what can I do that looks like that same quaint, cottagey type of look but isn't actually the door, and that's where I landed on the arch," Degreff added. The project kicked off in May 2024 with the removal of the existing steps at the home. The new room and arch extended out of the front of the house, adding just 80 square feet to the space. But it would have the closet the Degreff family wanted so desperately. Degreff comes from a family of contractors, so it was a no-brainer for her to hire her uncle, Pat Gordon Contracting, for the project. She also worked with James Joyce Architect, and she tapped Weathertop Masonry to find brick that would match the home's existing stonework. The arch was the most difficult aspect of the renovation to create. Like the rest of the house, the arch was raised off the ground, and stairs led to the platform entrance. The arch pointed at the top, while the door beneath was designed with a round window atop it for contrast. Degreff told BI that Weathertop Masonry was integral to creating the archway, which was almost entirely made of brick and stone. She said the team initially tried to find vintage bricks to match the house, and when that didn't work, Degreff said Paul Scanio, Weathertop Masonry's president, got creative. "We ended up ordering a blend of two or three different types of brick, and the way that he grabbed and picked each brick, it mixed it in a way that made it look exactly like the old brick on my house," Degreff said. Degreff chose custom tile for the interior of the mudroom. Degreff said she spent "hours and hours" researching tiles before selecting a green, patterned set from London Mosaic. The tile was laid in August, and Degreff held off decorating the rest of the space until January 2025, getting used to it before deciding how to finish it. When Degreff finished the mudroom, green was integral to the design. Thanks to the arch, the inside of the mudroom has high ceilings, and Degreff played up that height by painting the walls and ceilings a deep green. A textured light hangs from the ceiling, and the window above the door lets in natural light. There's a second door that leads to the living room, making the main house warmer. Degreff added a bench to the entryway. When you enter the mudroom, the long-awaited coat closet sits on the right, but the left side was a blank canvas for Degreff to decorate. "I knew I wanted to do a bench seating with a little open shelf, something that I could restyle seasonally, and a spot to hang extra stuff," she told BI. She did the work on the corner herself, adding paneling to the wall behind and next to the bench for some texture. A wooden shelf floated above the bench, and Degreff added hooks to the wall for jackets and purses. Degreff said the mudroom is already making her home more functional. "It's so nice," Degreff said of having a mudroom. "This was the first winter that we walked into having a mudroom, and it's just so much easier having a place to put the kids' sports bags and hang up our coats." "For work, I have a lot of random props that I get, and I have a closet space there now," she added. "It's not just sitting by the front door in the middle of the living room." The archway also improved the home's curb appeal, as Degreff's neighbors can attest. The arch drastically changed the house's appearance, but Degreff said all the work they did on the exterior in 2024 improved its curb appeal. "We were adding sod, we added a fence, we added landscaping, so the arch is just like a piece of other things that definitely made the house more attractive from the outside," she said. Degreff said people who live in her community noticed the upgrades. "The amount of neighbors that are excited about it has also been really cute," Degreff said. "I have at least one neighbor every day, and it's been a year, that's like, 'Your house came out so great. I love how it looks.'" She feels like the exterior finally matches the interior. "Nobody realized that it was cute inside because it had sad grass and it was just so dumpy outside, and now I feel like people get it," she said. "When we first did the renovation, people asked me when I moved in and welcomed me to the neighborhood because they thought I had just bought the house and started to fix it up." She also has fun changing up her doorway seasonally. Degreff has been switching up the decor out front to match the season. "Decorating it every season has been so fun," she said. "I put leaves around the arch for fall last year, and then I did garlands and lights for Christmas, and it's just fun and festive." She told BI that she's also "constantly" repainting the front door. Degreff knows repainting it so often might lead to wear and tear long-term, but she considers it a work expense because so much of her content revolves around her house. "I sand it in between, but it does get thick. It's definitely a casualty, and I look at it as a business expense at this point," she said. "Worst case scenario, I will, in five years, get a different door and start from scratch. There's nothing saying the door has to be forever." Having a clear vision helped Degreff bring her renovation to life. Degreff didn't have an exact cost breakdown for her mudroom and arch renovation because she and her husband also had work done on their driveway and other parts of their home. Still, she recommends people estimate between $50,000 and $70,000 if they want to take on a similar project. She also said that people who plan to take on similar projects should have a clear vision for their transformation. "I think my best advice would be to go on Pinterest and take a look at all the elements that you want to have in your space, whether it's a bench seating area when you walk in or a special kind of tile or special window," she said. "When you hire a contractor, they're just carrying out your vision. If you don't go into it with the vision, then you're not going to get exactly what you want." "The first time I renovated, I definitely didn't do enough research or planning, and there are things that I would do differently," Degreff said. "But with the arch, I 100% feel like it's exactly everything I wanted and hoped and dreamed."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Hulk Hogan's wife Sky breaks silence after his death in heartbreaking post
Hulk Hogan's wife, Sky, has shared an emotional statement about his death. The former wrestler died Thursday at the age of 71, after medics were reportedly called to his home in Clearwater, Florida. While a cause of death hasn't been revealed, TMZ reported he experienced 'cardiac arrest.' Sky, who married Hulk in 2023, broke her silence Friday on Instagram, sharing a sweet picture of herself kissing him on the cheek. In the caption, she also shared details about his physical health before his death. 'I wasn't ready for this…and my heart is in pieces,' Sky, 46, wrote. 'He had been dealing with some health issues, but I truly believed we would overcome them. I had so much faith in his strength. I thought we still had more time. 'This loss is sudden and impossible to process,' she continued. 'To the world, he was a legend… but to me, he was my Terry. The man I loved. My partner. My heart.' She added that her husband loved his fans a great deal, 'despite his growing physical discomfort.' 'He did everything he could to show up, sign autographs, take photos, and connect with the people who supported him through it all. You meant everything to him,' Sky continued. 'He was a believer in Christ, and I take comfort knowing his soul is at peace and he's been welcomed home.' 'Please keep his family and all of us who loved him in your prayers as we try to navigate this new reality,' she concluded. The yoga instructor got engaged to Hulk in July 2023, after a year of dating. They officially tied the knot in September 2023. Sky was Hulk's third wife. The WWE legend was married to Linda Hogan from 1993 to 2009 and then to Jennifer McDaniel from 2010 to 2021. He and Linda shared two children, Brooke, 37, and Nick, 36. However, Brooke has been estranged from her parents for nearly a decade. Only days before Hulk's death, Linda shared a throwback photo with her ex-husband. She posted a snap from 1996, when they attended a convention in Las Vegas. She simply captioned the post: 'The good old days !' Before meeting Hulk, Sky welcomed three children of her own, but she keeps their lives out of the spotlight. Born Terry Gene Bollea, Hulk skyrocketed to fame in the 1980s, bringing professional wrestling into the mainstream. He went on to become an eight-time WrestleMania headliner and six-time World Wrestling Entertainment champion, in addition to an actor and reality television personality. Hulk has been mourned by the WWE, fellow wrestlers, and political figures. On his Truth Social account, President Donald Trump issued a tribute to Hulk, who became a fixture during Trump's 2024 re-election campaign, appearing at the Republican National Convention to appeal to voters. 'We lost a great friend today, the 'Hulkster.' Hulk Hogan was MAGA all the way — Strong, tough, smart, but with the biggest heart,' Trump wrote. He continued: 'He gave an absolutely electric speech at the Republican National Convention, that was one of the highlights of the entire week. He entertained fans from all over the World, and the cultural impact he had was massive.'
Indianapolis Star
an hour ago
- Indianapolis Star
Jon Stewart warned comedians get 'sent away first.' Now it's happening.
'Go f--- yourself.' That was just one of the many 'witticisms' Stephen Colbert had for President Donald Trump and his "Late Show" audience on July 21, his first since breaking the news the show was coming to an end. Not in a year. Not after a farewell tour. Next May. No replacement. No streaming continuation. Yes, CBS made what it called an "agonizing" business decision to cancel the most-watched show at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT, just days after Colbert mocked the network's parent company for a $16 million payout to Trump. Colbert thanked CBS but also criticized its anonymous leak to the New York Post that the show loses between $40 million and $50 million a year amid falling ratings and advertising for late-night TV shows. On the one hand, you have those arguing this is simply a case of corporate cost cutting and media evolving. While others are raising the alarm this is a political decision disguised as a financial one. Both can be – and are – true at the same time. Before Colbert called his bosses' bosses' settlement with Trump a 'big fat bribe," his "Late Show" monologues have taken direct aim – nightly – at authoritarianism, misinformation, corporate cowardice and Trump for nearly a decade. One could even argue that he owes his success to Trump, because during his initial months at 'Late Show,' Colbert faltered in the ratings. In 2017, however, he began to see a surge of success as he got to mock Trump 1.0 in his monologues. Soon his show was No. 1 in late night, a ranking it held for nine straight TV seasons while simultaneously racking up 33 consecutive Emmy nominations. Colbert became a go-to voice for Trump-resistant Americans who enjoyed their political despair with a side of satire. In many ways, he took up the mantle left by his old boss, Jon Stewart, offering comedic catharsis in chaotic times. Despite this context, CBS claimed the decision to cancel was purely financial and 'not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.' According to the company, the show had become too expensive to produce amid shrinking ad revenues and changing viewer habits. Opinion: Critics said Trump would ruin America. Six months in, he's proving them wrong. CBS is not wrong: Late-night advertising has by some estimates dropped by half since 2018. Anecdotally, I watch a lot of late-night viral clips on my phone, but I can't tell you the last time I watched any late-night television live on my television. But not everyone's buying the "it's just business" line. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, called for scrutiny while Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, who taped the July 17 show when Colbert broke the news, echoed the concern. The Writers Guild of America issued a statement suggesting the move raises 'significant concerns' about political retribution. There are countless scathing opinion columns, letters to the editor and social media posts containing similar sentiments. Meanwhile, Trump gloated. He posted on Truth Social, "I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next." CBS is just one part of a massive merger between Paramount Global and Skydance. After Colbert's cancelation, the deal received approval from the Federal Communications Commission. The chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, was appointed by Trump. If you need a clue about whether his loyalties lie with the Constitution or the current occupant of the White House, Carr swapped out an American flag lapel pin for a gold medallion in the shape of Trump's profile just months ago. When corporations' incentives line up so conveniently with silencing dissent, we should be alarmed. Because both things can be true: The economics of late-night television, and the cultural influence of it, has been changing. And the timing of the settlement combined with the end of the "Late Show" is deeply concerning. Here is how it appears: The Trump administration made it clear that certain media deals wouldn't get approved unless certain broadcasting decisions were made. That would be the government using its power to punish dissent and influence private business decisions in order for political favor. In his 2022 Mark Twain Prize acceptance speech, Jon Stewart warned, 'When a society is under threat, comedians are the ones who get sent away first. It's just a reminder to people that democracy is under threat. Authoritarians are the threat to comedy, to art, to music, to thought, to poetry, to progress, to all those things.' That's the part that should concern us. The question isn't what happens to Colbert (he will be fine). It's what happens to us: the audience, the public, the people who depend on sharp, fearless voices to cut through the fog. Opinion: Public media funding cuts create fair competition for local news in Indiana The federal government defunded NPR and PBS. Now one of the most popular comedians on television is being nudged off the air. At what point do we stop calling this "just a business decision" and start calling it slow, strategic silencing? Because when cost cutting trims away the voices willing to laugh at power in real time, what's really being cut is dissent. And if that's not political, then what is?
