Pablo Luna
Movie actress and director Reginald King has lost her only son. King shared 26-year-old Ian Alexander Jr. with former husband Ian Alexander Sr. whom she divorced in 2007 after nine years of marriage. Wednesday was Ian’s birthday, and it was well-celebrated, but a family source announced he died by suicide on Saturday – three days after his 26th birthday.
King mourned the loss of her son and asked for the public to respect her family’s privacy at this period. The circumstances of his death remain unknown.
“Our family is devastated at the deepest level by the loss of Ian,” King said in a statement. “He is such a bright light who cared so deeply about the happiness of others. Our family asks for respectful consideration during this private time. Thank you.”
Ian was a DJ and his father was a record producer. He recently released a song titled “Green Eyes” and King shared the news on her Instagram page last week. The upcoming artiste had a show scheduled for January 28 in Los Angeles.
Ian and his mother were always together at most of her public events. And he penned an emotional tribute to her last year when she clocked 50. He said his mother was his world and that he was inspired by everything about her, adding that he was thankful she was always present by his side.
“Happy birthday to my co, so extremely proud of you and inspired by your love, artistry, and gangsta!” he wrote. “To be able to watch you take this lifetime by its neck and make it yours is something I will forever be grateful for. But to have you as my mother is the greatest gift I could ask for. To be all that you are while always having the time to be there, love, and support me unconditionally is truly remarkable.”
To underscore the closeness between them, King and her son shared the same tattoo. Ian had him on his shoulder and King has hers on her name – it reads “Unconditional Love” in Aramaic. They got the tattoo in 2017 and the actress explained what led them to it.
“We were taking Kabbalah classes,” King revealed. “He said, let’s choose three [designs] each and not tell each other which ones they are and whichever one is matching, that’s the one we’re going to get tattooed — and we both chose unconditional love.”
King stared in the movie “If Beale Street Could Talk” and was featured in the TV show “Watchmen”. She directed the movie “One Night in Miami” in 2020 and won the Academy Award, a Golden Globe, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and two NAACP Image Awards. She has been in the entertainment industry for over 30 years.
