Keshia Knight Pulliam is mourning the demise of her on-screen brother, Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
The Cosby Show alum, 46, took to Instagram on Sunday, July 27, to pen a heartfelt tribute to her “big brother” in the wake of his untimely demise on July 20.
“A week ago I lost my big brother, but I gained an angel…,” she wrote in the caption. “I love you… I miss you… We got our girls, ❤️” she added, referring to Warner's wife and eight-year-old daughter.
She paired her caption with a video of Warner playing the bass guitar onstage. People Magazine has reported that the clip was shot at the City Winery in Atlanta. In another clip, two young girls, seemingly Knight Pulliam's 7-year-old daughter and Warner's 8-year-old, can be seen walking with a horse on a farm.
“Thank you for every text call and all of the love that you have sent my way ... I've just needed a moment... ❤️," she wrote on her Instagram Stories.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Keshia Knight Pulliam's close bond over the years explored:
As reported by several outlets at the time, reports emerged that Malcolm-Jamal Warner had died on July 21. In the days since, it has been confirmed that he died of accidental drowning at a beach in Costa Rica. The Costa Rican Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) has affirmed that his autopsy was completed, and his cause of death has been ruled as “asphyxia due to submersion.”
Elberth León, head of the Tourist Police for Costa Rica’s Atlantic region, has since revealed that at the time, Malcolm-Jamal Warner had been trying to save his daughter when he drowned, per Us Weekly.
“Both were dragged by the current,” León told the outlet on Thursday, July 24. “They were bathing together and were caught by a rip current. 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.”
His daughter made it back to the shore safely with the help of surfers nearby. The actor and musician was hauled out of the water by Red Cross lifeguards and a volunteer from the Caribbean Guard, though he showed no signs of life. Nonetheless, CPR was performed as a revival measure, to no avail.
As reported by The New York Post, Malcolm-Jamal Warner rose to fame for portraying Theodore “Theo” Huxtable in “The Cosby Show" for 8 years, from 1984 to 1992. He remained close with Knight Pulliam even after the series came to an end. Per the outlet, one month before he died, she made an appearance on his “Not All Hood NAH” podcast, where they reflected on their close bond:
“She is more than my friend, she is family. Our bond goes way beyond ‘The Cosby Show,'” Warner said about Knight Pulliam. “We have both managed to navigate through the murky waters of child stardom with our souls and dignity intact.”
Knight Pulliam jokingly suggested that Warner was “stuck with me for life,” before adding that their daughters “adore each other.”
“I'm grateful that we have those moments with our families and our kids, and our daughters adore each other,” Knight Pulliam said. “It's so surreal to me that we have this kind of relationship as parents, and we see our next generation have this bond at such a young age,” Warner echoed, sharing that their girls were born three months apart. “I’m grateful because I think that one change also created the space for us [to] bring this relationship so current,” Knight Pulliam added.
The pair also reflected on the end of the show:
“We were all ready to just kind of move on. So I was cool with finishing the last episode and everyone saying bye,” Malcolm-Jamal Warner said. “I was so cool, had no emotions, and then I saw Keshia started crying, and then I started crying.”
Per The New York Post, back in 2021, Malcolm-Jamal Warner opened up to the outlet about the series after Cosby's sexual assault conviction had been overturned:
“I can understand why some people can’t watch the show and enjoy it because of everything that’s going on now,” Malcolm-Jamal 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.
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