Matt Brown’s brother Bear Brown confirmed the “Alaskan Bush People” star died by suicide.
Bear gave a devastating update on Matt in a TikTok video Saturday, after Matt worried fans due to his recent alarming livestream on YouTube. Bear shared that Noah Brown, the youngest brother among the seven Brown siblings, pulled Matt’s body out of the Okanogan River in Washington and identified him.
“I didn’t think he would hurt himself, it does look like the injury is self-inflicted,” Bear said. “Obviously, the coroner has to look at him and stuff, but I thought you guys should know it is him.”
Bear asked his followers to be respectful to his family, specifically his mom, and to be mindful of the comments they leave.
“Sometimes words can hurt more than fists can and a lot of people left negative comments on Matt’s stuff too,” he added. “One of his last videos, he’s actually talking about how negative people were on his posts.”
“You guys should keep in mind that people on the other side of your screens, people you’re watching a video of, they’re real people too.”
In a TikTok video last Thursday, Bear said that Matt “has been struggling for a long time with alcohol and with drugs,” but he insisted the family did not “shun” him. Instead, Matt allegedly “didn’t want anything to do with the family.”
He said that the last time he saw him was when they ran into each other at Walmart, and Matt told him he had “fallen off the wagon.” Bear said he had encouraged him to go to rehab.
He also said that Matt was“going through a really bad breakup” with “a girl he really liked.”
“I guess he had been drinking too much. I don’t know all the details to it,” he said.
Earlier this month, concern grew over Matt after he posted a YouTube livestream showing himself nude, speaking incoherently and carrying what appeared to be a firearm.
He was 43 years old.
Matt appeared in the Discovery Channel’s “Alaskan Bush People” between 2014 and 2019, which starred his parents — Billy and Ami — and his siblings.
The reality series followed the Brown family as they lived off the grid in the wilderness.
