‎Bill Cosby compares Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s drowning death to his own son’s murder: ‘Devastating

Bill Cosby is reliving trauma after the tragic death of his onscreen son, Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
‎
‎Cosby’s rep said that the news of Warner’s fatal drowning in Costa Rica on Sunday reminded the comedian of his son’s murder in 1997.
‎
‎Ennis William Cosby was shot and killed during an attempted robbery while he tried to change his flat tire on a Los Angeles freeway ramp in 1997. He was 27 years old.
‎
‎“[It] reminded him of the same call he received when his son died,” Bill’s rep, Andrew Wyatt, told People about how the actor is taking the news.
‎
‎Wyatt said Ennis and Warner played together when they were young. He also said that Warner and Bill “spoke all the time” before his death.
‎
‎“He found a way to talk about Malcolm even though he was sad,” Wyatt said of Bill.

‎
‎According to Wyatt, Bill is grieving with his “Cosby Show” co-stars, including his onscreen wife, Phylicia Rashad.
‎
‎“[He was] on the phone with Phylicia Rashad reminiscing about Malcolm,” Wyatt said.
‎
‎Wyatt didn’t immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
‎
‎During a phone interview with CBS News’ Jericka Duncan on Monday, Bill, 88, shared that he spoke to Warner three months ago.
‎
‎“He was never afraid to go to his room and study,” he recalled of Warner, who played his onscreen son, Theo Huxtable, on “The Cosby Show.”

‎
‎“He knew his lines and that he was quite comfortable even with the growing pains of a being a teenager,” he continued.
‎
‎Warner was on a family vacation in Costa Rica when he got swept up in a strong current, police said in a statement obtained by The Post.
‎
‎Warner was pulled from the water by people in the area near Cocles, a beach in Limon, and taken to shore, where the Costa Rica Red Cross tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
‎
‎He was 54 years old.