EXCLUSIVE: Disgraced Bill Cosby Gutted Over TV Son Malcolm-Jamal Warner's Tragic Death at 54... Nearly Three Decades After His Own Child Was Brutally Murdered
Bill Cosby mourns Malcolm-Jamal Warner's death at 54, decades after losing his own son to murder.
Aug. 17 2025, Published 8:00 a.m. ET
Disgraced comic Bill Cosby has been gutted by the shocking drowning death of TV son Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and friends fear the tragedy will be the end of him, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Sources said sex pest Cosby, 88, who's been living in seclusion since his release from prison, is grieving as if he's lost another of his own children.
Bill's Pain Following The Death
Malcolm-Jamal Warner's drowning leaves Bill Cosby's wife, Camille Cosby, worried this loss may break her husband completely.
"This has hit Bill extremely hard," shared an insider.
"He and Malcolm were very close and spoke all the time. Malcolm called to wish Bill a happy birthday just two weeks ago. Malcolm was like a real-life son to him. Now he's gone, just like his own boy, Ennis."
Cosby's only son was shot and killed in cold blood while changing a flat tire on a Los Angeles highway in 1997. He was 27.
Warner, 54, played Cosby's son, Theo Huxtable, during the entire run of The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992.
He was swimming off the coast of Costa Rica when he was apparently caught in a rip tide and swept out to sea. He was pulled from the water, but efforts to resuscitate him failed.
The cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation by "submersion," authorities said.
His wife and 8-year-old daughter survive him.
Bill's Life After Being Sentenced
Warner's tragic death reopens old wounds from Bill's loss of son Ennis in 1997.
Sources said Warner's loss may be the final nail in the coffin for Cosby, who remains holed up in his Pennsylvania mansion.
"He doesn't leave the house and relies on his wife, Camille, for everything," described the insider.
Once beloved as "America's Dad," Cosby is virtually blind, suffers from heart issues, has few friends and no career.
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Andrea Constand's case still haunts Bil as friends fear Warner's death could finish him off.
After being convicted of sexual assault, he served two and a half years of a 10-year sentence for drugging and raping Andrea Constand in 2004. In 2021, his conviction was overturned on a technicality, and he was released.
"Bill has long maintained his innocence and claimed he was unfairly prosecuted, but there's still a stigma to his name," said an insider.
"His reputation has been tarnished. He will never regain his good-guy image. Those left around him fear Malcolm's death will finally put an end to his lonely, dreary life."
