Last month, Media Take Out broke the sad news that Ricky Smiley’s eldest son Brandon’s died suddenly. At the time there was rampant speculation that Brandon may have died from an accidental drug overdose.
Well now Ricky is speaking out about it. The comedian admitted that his son struggled with a pretty serious drug problem, and that he likely died from a fentanyl overdose.
Watch:
On Wednesday, the comedian sat down with Craig Melvin on the third hour of Today, and shared that his son’s death is a suspected overdose following years of substance abuse issues.
“Yeah, he was struggling with that,” the Rickey Smiley Morning Show host said when asked about Brandon’s drug use. “His mother and I made several attempts to try and send him to get the help he needed, send him to rehab. And we thought that he was doing better.”
Although Smiley noted that “he used and it killed him,” he said that it was just speculation, as the family is waiting for the results of the toxicology report.
“But we haven’t got a toxicology report yet,” Smiley said. “But this is just what we are speculating, according to his girlfriend who found him unresponsive.”
Smiley said that he and Brandon’s mother often had conversations with their son, and encouraged other parents to do the same, even if it seems the children won’t listen.
“We have to have a conversation,” he said. “I think the parents are having the conversation. The problem is getting the kids to listen to these conversations.”
[social_warfare]