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Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s widow, Tenisha Warner, is still processing his fatal drowning nearly one year later.
“The moments of that day, they occupy my body so deeply, so it’s really hard for me to relive what all of that was and to think about it,” Tenisha told Gayle King during an emotional CBS Mornings interview on Thursday, July 23. “It just breaks me in a way that makes it hard for me to stay steady. … I can’t remember the details. I think [it’s because] my body went through shock.”
Malcolm-Jamal died in July 2025 at age 54 after being caught in a riptide in Costa Rica. The Cosby Show alum is survived by his mother, Pamela Warner, as well as Tenisha and the pair’s 9-year-old daughter. (Malcolm-Jamal was on a family vacation with his wife and child at the time of his death.)
“[His death was] the worst day of my life, feels unfair,” Tenisha recalled on Thursday’s episode. “All I can think about is my daughter, and what I needed to do to continue being her mother and be her only parent.”
While grieving Malcolm-Jamal’s death, Tenisha and her daughter continue to sense his presence.
“He is here with me always. I don’t think about moving because all of our memories are here and it hurts,” she tearfully said. “I can’t be in my own home without feeling the loss, but I can’t walk away.”
Amid her bereavement, Tenisha hopes her friends continue remembering their family.
“I often tell my friends who reach out … [and] they might not necessarily get a response from me all the time, but [I tell them], ‘Just don’t forget us,’” she said. “I think that’s what I’m looking for. The hardest thing about grief is that people move on, but for us, because we’re his wife and child, there’s no moving on.”
She continued, “There’s moving with and living with — he will always be a part of our every day and there’s not a moment … in my day that I’m not affected.”
Before the interview aired, news broke that Tenisha filed a $1.2 million lawsuit against her mother-in-law, who is the successor trustee of the late actor’s Warner Family Trust. In court documents obtained by Us, Tenisha alleged that she is entitled to $1.2 million, which she claims is equivalent to what Malcolm-Jamal promised her in their premarital agreement.
“Plaintiff performed all obligations required of her under the agreement, including entering into and remaining in the marriage until the decedent’s death,” the lawsuit reads. “The decedent died without having satisfied his obligations under the agreement, and no person or entity has paid or provided the sums due to plaintiff under the agreement.”
Pamela has not publicly addressed Tenisha’s lawsuit, though she seemingly hinted at their dynamic via Instagram, writing, “During my year-long [grief] journey, I have discovered how cruel, evil and greedy a human can be.”
Pamela didn’t address Tenisha by name in her upload. Her daughter-in-law hinted on CBS Mornings that they were not in touch.
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