Regina King Opens Up About Son’s Death & Grief

Regina King is getting candid about her son Ian’s death in a new interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. The star of Netflix‘s forthcoming film Shirley and HBO‘s acclaimed series Watchmen opened up about Ian’s suicide for the first time since he died in 2022 at the age of 26.

“I’m a different person now than I was January 19,” the Oscar-winning performer shared. “Grief is a journey, you know? I understand that grief is love that has no place to go.”

According to King, Ian struggled with his mental health for some time. “When it comes to depression, people expect it to look a certain way and they expect it to look heavy… And people expect that … to have to experience this and not be able to have the time to just sit with Ian’s choice, which I respect and understand, that he didn’t wanna be here anymore. That’s a hard thing for other people to receive because they did not live our experience, did not live Ian’s journey,” King shared with Roberts.

(Credit: ABC/GMA)

King recently appeared as a presenter at this year’s Oscars, and chose to wear orange — Ian’s favorite color — as an homage to her son. Despite taking time to sit with the reality of Ian’s loss, King revealed, “I was so angry with God. Why would that weight be given to Ian?” The actress added, “With all of the things that we had gone through with the therapy, with psychiatrists and programs, and Ian was like, ‘I’m tired of talking, Mom.'”

King admitted, “When a parent loses a child, you still wonder, ‘What could I have done so that wouldn’t have happened?'”

“I know that I share this grief with everyone. But no one else is Ian’s mom, you know? Only me,” she went on. “And so, it’s mine. And the sadness will never go away. It’ll always be with me. And I think I saw somewhere the sadness is a reminder of how much he means to me.”

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Moving forward in life, King noted, “I know that it’s important to me to honor Ian in the totality of who he is, speak about him in the present because he is always with me and the joy and happiness that he gave all of us.” Even with all of her acting accolades and spectacular onscreen turns, King said, “My favorite thing about myself is being Ian’s mom.”

Shirley is King’s first project since 2021’s The Harder They Fall. The film is set to debut on Netflix beginning Friday, March 22. Watch King’s interview with Roberts, above.