Regina King is mourning a past love.
The Oscar winner, 54, shared a tribute to ex Malcolm-Jamal Warner the day after it was confirmed that the “Cosby Show” alum had drowned while on vacation in Costa Rica.
“Some people leave a lasting imprint, not just for who they were but for the energy they carried,” King wrote on her Instagram Stories Monday alongside a picture of Warner riding a motorcycle.
Regina King and Malcolm-Jamal Warner at the after-party for the “This Christmas” premiere in 2007. Getty Images“I’m sending prayers filled with love and understanding to your family and loved ones,” the actress continued. “Rest easy Malcolm-Jamal Warner.”
King shared a second picture of Warner riding the motorcycle while standing up with one hand in the air. “Ride in power,” she wrote.
Regina King posts a tribute to her ex Malcolm-Jamal Warner. Regina King/Instagram
Regina King and Malcolm-Jamal Warner dated for two years. Regina King/InstagramThe “Watchmen” actress dated Warner from 2011 to 2013. They met in the 1980s when Warner was on “The Cosby Show” and King was starring in another NBC sitcom, “227.”
“Malcolm and I have a lot in common,” King told Essence in January 2011. “We’ve both been child actors and were also blessed to be raised by incredible mothers who instilled good values in us. Things are maturing nicely.”
Later that year, Warner told BET: “We like to protect what we have because it’s very special and very precious … But I will say that it’s a relationship that makes all the sense in the world.”
Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Regina King at the “This Christmas” premiere after-party. FilmMagic, IncAfter two years of dating, Warner reportedly blindsided King by dumping her.
At the time, Us Weekly reported that Warner forced King and her son, Ian Alexander Jr., whose father was her ex-husband Ian Alexander Sr., to move out of their house. (King’s son died by suicide in January 2022 at the age of 26.)
In a March 2013 tweet, King denied that there was drama between herself and Warner.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Regina King, Shanice and Flex Alexander at Niecy Nash and Jay Tucker’s one-year wedding anniversary celebration in 2012. FilmMagic“Hey everybody PLEASE don’t believe everything you read. Me & MalcolmJamalWar are good. Life happens. Forward motion. Godspeed,” she said at the time.
Two years later, King insinuated that she had a bad breakup with Warner in an interview with Us Weekly.
“Someone broke up with me on Valentine’s. Yeah. I’m serious,” she said. “Then he actually sent me flowers that said, ‘I still love you,’ and I threw the flowers in the trash, and he was upset that I threw them in the trash, and I was like, ‘F–k you.'”
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King didn’t name the person, but she said that people would “know” who he is.
Before dating King, Warner was in a relationship with actress Michelle Thomas, who played his girlfriend on “The Cosby Show.” He was reportedly by Thomas’ bedside when she died in 1998 of a desmoplastic tumor at 30.
Warner also dated actress Karen Malina White from 2000 to 2007.
At the time of his death, Warner was married and had a daughter. He kept his wife and their child out of the spotlight.
Regina King and Malcom-Jamal Warner at a party for “Chopped” in New York City in 2009. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Regina King at Paris fashion week in January. Getty Images“If something happened and we weren’t together romantically, she would still be the person that I would want to raise a child with,” Warner said about his wife on a podcast in May.
The Emmy nominee was in Costa Rica with his family when he died on Sunday.
Costa Rican police told The Post that Warner was pulled from the water by people in the area and taken to shore, where they desperately attempted to save his life.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner in “The Cosby Show.” Courtesy Everett Collection
Malcolm-Jamal Warner attends Variety’s TV FYC Fest in 2023. Variety via Getty Images
Bill Cosby and Malcolm-Jamal Warner in “The Cosby Show.” ©NBC/Courtesy Everett CollectionHis body was taken to a local morgue for an autopsy, with his cause of death listed as asphyxiation by “submersion,” police said.
Warner has been remembered by many Hollywood figures, including his “Malcolm & Eddie” co-star Eddie Griffin and his “Reed Between the Lines” co-star Tracee Ellis Ross.
Bill Cosby, who played Warner’s dad in the hit sitcom, also reacted to Warner’s death by comparing it to the passing of his son Ennis Cosby, who was murdered in 1997.






