Malcolm-Jamal Warner was struggling along with daughter, 8, at time of drowning
Once brought to shore, the 54-year-old was given 45 minutes of CPR
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner was swimming with his eight-year-old daughter when he drowned in Costa Rica earlier this week, according to reports.
The 54-year-old actor and musician, who was best known for playing Theo Huxtable in The Cosby Show, died on Sunday during a family vacation with his wife and daughter.
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner was struggling along with daughter, 8, at time of drowning Back to video
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Police told ABC News that surfers spotted Warner and his daughter struggling in the water and dove in to try and help them.
Lifeguard instructor Mike Geist, who is also the vice-president of Caribbean Guard, explained to Us Weekly how the tragedy unfolded.
Geist said that after group surf lessons earlier in the day, Warner and a few other individuals “decided to get back in the water.”
He recalled three people later being seen in “distress,” who lifeguards were “able to get out with some help.”
He continued: “Another person that was on the beach with a boogie board went out to go and look for Malcolm because they learned there was a fourth person,” Geist said, noting that a doctor was among those searching for the actor and eventually the one who found him submerged in water.
Once brought to shore, Warner was given 45 minutes of CPR, ABC News reported, but it was too late.
Warner’s cause of death was ruled as accidental asphyxiation by submersion, according to the outlet.
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A man trying to help Warner had been discharged from hospital after receiving treatment “without complications.”
The late Grammy winner, who won Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2015, kept much of his personal life private, never sharing his daughter’s name as well as keeping the identity of his wife from the public.
However, in 2023 he posted a throwback video of him dancing with his daughter and singing to her when she was 1, noting how fast she was growing up.
Warner also called his daughter a “mini us” in a 2021 Instagram post while sharing how their family came to be.
“Whatever ‘bigger than family’ ideas I had in my head before these two beautiful spirits came into my life are now fuelled to be even bigger. Life is even more fulfilling,” he wrote.
“When people ask me how I’m doing, I often tell them that I am living the mother****ing dream,” the Resident actor continued.
“And on the days it doesn’t feel like it, I just remind myself that I’m still living SOMEBODY’s dream. And I press on. I am so FULL now. Of Love. Of joy. Of gratefulness.”
After Warner’s Cosby Show run ended in 1992, he went on to star alongside Eddie Griffin in Malcolm & Eddie.
In recent years he appeared on Suits, Major Crimes and 9-1-1 and hosted podcast Not All Hood alongside Candace O. Kelley and Weusi Baraka.
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