Jimmy Kimmel It is Regina Rei shared an emotional moment together during Thursday night Jimmy Kimmel live. The Oscar-winning actress was a guest on the nightly program to promote her new film Shirley.
And while there was no direct mention of King’s late son, Ian Jr., who died in January 2022 of an alleged suicide, it was clear that his loss was felt.
“It’s great to see you. How are you right now?” Kimmel asked, with pointed emphasis.
“Right now, I’m fine,” King replied, smiling.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” a visibly emotional Kimmel responded, fighting back tears. “I know you’ve been through a lot this past year.”
King noticed the host’s emotions, reaching out and holding Kimmel’s hand.
“It’s good to see you, Jimmy,” she said.
Kimmel struggled to find the words before saying, “Umm, did you see William Shatner backstage?” which made King laugh.
The rest of the interview contained no mention of the actress’ late son, however, she has spoken about him several times recently as she has returned to the public eye.
Ian Alexander Jr. was the only child of King and her ex-husband, music producer Ian Alexander. The exes got married in 1997 and were together for a decade before divorcing. According to multiple reports, Ian Jr. died by suicide soon after celebrating its 26th anniversary in 2022.
Earlier this month, she spoke to Robin Roberts about Good Morning Americareflecting on what life has been like for her since the death of her 26-year-old son.
“I’m a different person now than I was on January 19th,” King shared at the time. “Grief is a journey, you know?”
“I understand that pain is a love that has nowhere to go,” King said, “and that we all deal with it differently.”
“I know it’s important for me to honor Ian and the totality of who he is,” King said in GMA. She noted that she prefers to “talk about him in the present tense because he is always with me.”
King also spoke about his son’s mental health struggles.
“When it comes to depression, people expect it to look a certain way and feel heavy,” she said, pausing to compose herself.
King continued: “To have to go through that and not be able to take the time to just accept Ian’s choice, which I respect and understand, that he didn’t want to be here anymore – that’s a hard thing for people to accept. because they didn’t live our experience. They didn’t live Ian’s journey.”
The actress admitted she was “very angry with God” for giving Ian “that burden” of depression.
“All the things we went through, the therapy and the psychiatrists and the programs and he just, Ian said, ‘I’m tired of talking, Mom,’” she recalled. “What I love most about myself is being Ian’s mother and I can’t say that with a smile, with tears, with all the emotions that come with that, I can’t do that if I don’t respect the journey.”
“When a parent loses a child, you still wonder what I could have done to make it not happen,” she admitted. “I know I share this pain with everyone, but no one else is Ian’s mother. Just me. And so, it’s mine and the sadness will never go away. It will always be with me, and I think I saw somewhere, ‘The sadness is a reminder of how much he means to me.'”
ET spoke with King earlier this month about scoring his son in his next film, Shirley, a biopic about the first black congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm.
“We got here with him, he’s a part of this,” King said of his son. “He’s right here, he’s covered everything.”
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
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