Regina King breaks down in TEARS as she reveals her 'guilt' over her 26-year-old son's suicide in heartbreaking interview - and details how she learned to 'respect and understand' his decision

Regina King has admitted that she feels 'a lot of guilt' over her only child Ian Alexander Jr's suicide but 'respects and understands' the choice that her son made on his 26th birthday in January 2022.

In an exclusive interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, the 53-year-old actress opened up about how losing her beloved son has made her 'a different person' and has also left her feeling 'so angry with God'.

At one point, the Academy Award winner broke down in tears as she recalled her son's mental health and told 63-year-old Robin: 'When it comes to depression, people expect it to look a certain way and they expect it to look heavy...' before taking a pause and wiping her eyes with a tissue.

'To have to experience this and not be able to have the time to just sit with Ian's choice, which I respect and understand... that he didn't want to be here anymore and that's a hard thing for other people to receive because they did not live our experience [and] did not live Ian's journey.'

Regina King broke down in tears during an appearance on Good Morning America on Thursday 

Regina's only child Ian Alexander Jr sadly took his own life in January 2022

The 53-year-old actress wiped away tears as she spoke about feeling 'a lot of guilt' over Ian's death

Regina, who was married to Ian's father Ian Alexander Sr. from 1997 until 2007, continued: 'I was so angry with God, that why would that weight be given to Ian. You know of all of the things we had gone through, the therapy, psychiatrists and programs, and Ian was like, "I'm tired of talking, mom".

'My favorite thing about myself is being Ian's mom and I can't say that with a smile, with tears, with all of the emotion that comes with that, I can't do that if I did not respect the journey.'

When Robin asked Regina what the past two years have been like for her, the Watchmen star replied: 'Oh wow, you know, I'm a different person now than I was January 19th. Grief is a journey... I understand that grief is love that has no place to go.

'I know that it's important to me to honor Ian and the totality of who he is. I speak about him in the present because he's always with me... the joy and happiness that he gave all of us.'

Regina admitted that attending events without her son now is 'absolutely a trigger' as he was always by her side when she attended red carpet ceremonies.

'So sometimes it will trigger just laughter. Most times, as of recent, it triggers a smile but sometimes the absence, his absence, is really loud,' she explained, before saying she's still struggling with accepting Ian's death. 

'It's a lot of guilt [that] comes over me,' she said. 'When a parent loses a child, you still wonder, what could I have done so that wouldn't have happened?

'I know that I share this grief with everyone, but no one else is Ian's mom, you know? Only 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.'

Regina said Ian's death has made her 'a different person' and also left her feeling 'so angry with God'

Regina, pictured here with Ian at the 2015 Emmy Awards, said it's 'triggering' now attending red carpet events without him

The Oscar winning actress said that her favorite thing about herself is 'being Ian's mom'

The Watchmen actress was married to her son's father, Ian Alexander Sr. from 1997 until 2007. The family are pictured here in 2005

GMA viewers took to X to share their thoughts and one said the interview made them cry

Another fan posted about wanting to 'hug' Regina King after her emotional interview

One viewer thanked Robin for conducting the interview with 'treasure' Regina

As Good Morning America cut back to the studio, Robin revealed to her co-hosts that the interview came about because the pair spoke to one another last weekend and Regina told her: 'I'm ready to talk, I want to be able to talk about my son. I'm not going to make him a poster child for what's going on, I want to talk about it once.'

Robin continued: 'She is so appreciative of the public and when she was at the Oscars, people were hitting her up on Instagram like, "oh, you're back", they were happy to see her.

'She said that's it's wonderful and they're good intentions, but she said when you say to somebody who's lost a child or gone through that, "be strong", she said, "getting out of the bed is being strong, you don't need to say that to someone". Just breathing, just walking, just being is being strong.'

Viewers tuning in at home were clearly touched by Robin's sit down with Regina and took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts. 

'Regina King’s interview made me cry,' one person admitted, while another wrote: 'I cried this entire interview!! God Bless Ian!!'

A third person posted: 'I just wanna hug Regina King and stay there,' while a fourth told Robin: 'You are the best person that she could have had this interview with.'

'My heart be breaking for Regina King #GMA,' someone else said, while another viewer added: 'Regina King’s interview on Good Morning America made me tear up.'

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