Vivica A. Fox shares heartbreaking details of her visit with a grieving Regina King
Vivica A. Fox has poured her broken heart out about the death of good friend Regina King’s son.
“I was with Regina last night,” the actor and co-host said Monday on Fox Soul’s “Cocktails With Queens.” “She’s OK. I was able to hug her.”
Ian Alexander Jr., King’s only son with ex-husband Ian Alexander Sr., took his own life after turning 26 last week. The news spread quickly when it went public Saturday.
“I got a text saying, ‘Regina wants to see you,’ and I made a U-turn and immediately headed there. I didn’t think about where am I going and what am I doing, I just — had to go see my friend. My sister,” Fox said before bursting into tears. “On the way there I had to call and ask people, ‘What do you say? I’m scared, I don’t want to say something wrong.’ She is so strong.”
Fox told her co-hosts that it had been “absolutely one of the longest weekends” she’d ever had in her life. “It’s like I can’t stop crying.” Indeed, she was fighting back tears, or dabbing them away, the entire time she spoke.
Ian Alexander Jr., the only child of award-winning actor and director Regina King, has died at 26.
But the actor said she witnessed something amazing at the “One Night in Miami...” director’s house.
“Our community is right there for her,” Fox said, referring to Black actors and other talent who she said love and support one another. “I saw it last night. It made me so proud.”
Fox urged everyone to look out for their kids and for anyone who might be on the edge emotionally, and said the weekend had been eye-opening for her.
“I’ve never thought about suicide in our community. How so many people are taking their own lives, that don’t want to be here. That’s the scary part. That they just are deciding to check out,” she said. Fox blamed “COVID and everything” for putting so many people “in a dark spot, in a dark place.”
Host Claudia Jordan said when the show started that she had posted a tribute to King and her son on social media over the weekend but took it down after a friend told her that those posts and tags, however well-intentioned, were hurting the actor-director.
Three-time Emmy winner Regina King is up for a fourth for her lead turn in HBO’s “Watchmen.” And she directed her first film.
“Words can’t even begin to support or uplift her now ...,” co-host Lisa Raye said. “Because a mother losing her child, you never think of that.”
Co-host Syleena Johnson said, “It just hurts to know that she has to hurt like this, forever. Obviously the pain gets better and better, but never — I can’t imagine my son taking his own life.”
Oscar winner King issued a statement through her spokesman Saturday.
“Our family is devastated at the deepest level by the loss of Ian,” it said. “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.”
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