Celebs

Rickey Smiley Opens Up About Son Brandon’s Passing, Speculates That He Overdosed: ‘He Was Struggling’

<p>In his first interview since losing his son&comma; Rickey Smiley is sharing some of his family&&num;8217&semi;s speculations surrounding the death of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;rickey-smileys-son-brandon-smiley-dead&sol;&quest;&lowbar;gl&equals;1&ast;u81z1h&ast;&lowbar;up&ast;MQ&period;&period;&ast;&lowbar;ga&ast;NTgzMjgxNzAwLjE2Nzc3Nzk2NDk&period;&ast;&lowbar;ga&lowbar;V2HX8YP3XL&ast;MTY3Nzc4MzkwOC4yLjAuMTY3Nzc4MzkwOC4wLjAuMA&period;&period;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Brandon Smiley<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Rickey Smiley Believed Brandon Was &&num;8216&semi;Doing Better&&num;8217&semi;&colon; &&num;8216&semi;He Has Just Got Baptized&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>During an appearance on the <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;today&period;com&sol;today&sol;amp&sol;rcna73068" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Today<&sol;a> <&sol;em>show&comma; Rickey recounted the January morning when he learned about the news&period; The radio personality specifically shared that Brandon&&num;8217&semi;s girlfriend contacted him&comma; and she said that the 32-year-old &&num;8220&semi;had OD&&num;8217&semi;d&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;His girlfriend called&&num;8230&semi;She was crying&comma; and she said—in her words—that he had OD&&num;8217&semi;d&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Upon hearing this news&comma; Rickey immediately prepared to hop on a flight from Dallas to Birmingham&comma; though he received news of Brandon&&num;8217&semi;s death while heading to the airport&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;I got a phone call on why way out the door from Brandon&&num;8217&semi;s younger sister who lives in Atlanta&period; &lbrack;She said&rsqb; that he had passed&period; She was crying&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Co-host Craig Melvin then proceeded to ask if Brandon had &&num;8220&semi;a history of drug abuse&comma;&&num;8221&semi; and Rickey confirmed that his son had been &&num;8220&semi;struggling&&num;8221&semi; with addiction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He also noted that he and Brandon&&num;8217&semi;s mother &&num;8220&semi;made several attempts&&num;8221&semi; to try and get him to a rehab center&period; Additionally&comma; Rickey noted that the family &&num;8220&semi;thought &lbrack;Brandon&rsqb; was doing much better&comma;&&num;8221&semi; as he had &&num;8220&semi;just joined the church&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;We thought that he was doing better&period; He had just joined the church&period; He had just got Baptized probably a month before he passed away&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Rickey then said&comma; &&num;8220&semi;He used&comma; and it killed him&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; he&&num;8217&semi;s sure to note that the official cause of death is pending&comma; and the family hasn&&num;8217&semi;t received a toxicology report yet&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;This is just what we&&num;8217&semi;re speculating according to his girlfriend&comma; who found him unresponsive&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><amp-instagram data-shortcode&equals;"CpS4duuO44v" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"600" data-captioned><&sol;amp-instagram><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">He Shares A Message To Parents&colon; &&num;8216&semi;We Have To Have A Conversation&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>After opening up about Brandon&&num;8217&semi;s passing&comma; Rickey proceeded to share a message to &&num;8220&semi;other parents who have have a child who&&num;8217&semi;s dealing with addiction issues&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Smiley pointed out that&comma; as he believes parents &&num;8220&semi;are having the conversation&&num;8221&semi; about drugs with their kids&comma; the true battle is &&num;8220&semi;getting the kids to listen&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;We have to have a conversation&period; I think the parents are having the conversation&period; The problem is getting the kids to listen to what the parents are saying&period; The parents are having these conversations&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>He also divulged that the family &&num;8220&semi;had been talking to &lbrack;Brandon&rsqb; for years&&num;8221&semi; about his addiction before noting that&comma; regardless of the children&&num;8217&semi;s upbringing&comma; drug addiction is a very real potential risk&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;We just assume that if you&&num;8217&semi;re in a good school district or a gated community and that these kids are not doing drugs&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Rickey reinforced this statement by adding&comma; &&num;8220&semi;You don&&num;8217&semi;t have to be in the hood to succumb to drug abuse&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Finally&comma; he wrapped up the interview by reflecting on his late son&comma; noting that he was &&num;8220&semi;a great kid&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-instagram data-shortcode&equals;"CoY1OrRgnHW" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"600" data-captioned><&sol;amp-instagram><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">We continue to send our prayers and condolences to Ricky Smiley and the rest of his family&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"114024" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;rickey-smiley-opens-up-about-son-brandons-passing-speculates-that-he-overdosed-he-was-struggling&sol;" data-secure&equals;"2a1d850594"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;font-size&colon; 25px&semi;font-weight&colon; 600&semi;">What Do You Think Roomies&quest;<&sol;div> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions wpra-static-emojis size-medium" style&equals;"border-color&colon; 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Nick Fenley

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