Actress Regina King's 26-Year-Old Son Dies

The only son of Oscar-winning actress and director Regina King has died—just a few days after his 26th birthday, People reports. Ian Alexander Jr., a musician and DJ, committed suicide, according to People. A representative of King's confirmed that to CNN. In a statement, King said her son was “such a bright light who cared so deeply about the happiness of others” and asked for “respectful consideration during this private time.” Alexander’s father was King’s ex-husband, record producer Ian Alexander Sr., according to the Hollywood Reporter.

King’s son posted on Instagram just three days before his death about an upcoming event. Not long before that, King herself took to social media to encourage her followers to listen to Alexander’s new song “Green Eyes.” On King’s 50th birthday in 2021, Alexander posted a loving tribute to the star of If Beale Street Could Talk: “...to have you as my mother is the greatest gift I could ask for.” King won the best-supporting actress Oscar for her role in that movie.

During a 2017 interview with The View, King said she and her son were taking Kabbalah classes together and also had matching tattoos of “unconditional love” in Aramaic. In 2019, Alexander was on King’s arm at the Golden Globes and called her “super mom” while she said he made her “happier than anything in the whole world.” King raised Alexander as a single mother after her divorce from his father in 2007. (More suicide stories.)