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Matt Brown, one of the stars of the Discovery Channel’s “Alaskan Bush People” has died. He was 43.
Solomon Isaiah “Bear” Brown, Matt Brown’s brother, announced the news in two videos posted to social media Sunday.
In the first video, he said “witnesses” told him and their other family members they’d seen Matt Brown at or near a river in Washington, take his own life, then float down the river before police were called.
“He has been struggling a long time with, you know, alcohol and drugs and stuff,” he said in the first video, adding there was “other stuff” including a break up and other issues.
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“I would have never suspected he would have hurt himself, honestly. He struggled for a long time, as I’ve mentioned, and I was so worried he was going to end up, you know, like OD’d or something like that,” Solomon Brown said in another video he posted. “I didn’t think that he would hurt himself.”
Their brother Noah Brown worked with search and rescue to find Matt Brown’s body. At 3:27 p.m., he positively identified the body as his eldest brother, he said in a video. No cause of death is known at this time, but a coroner’s report is underway, the brothers said.
Noah Brown said Matt Brown has his ID and social security on his person.
The family grew in popularity thanks to their reality TV show “Alaskan Bush People,” which debuted in 2014. It followed the unconventional, secluded lifestyle the Browns lived together.
The show ended in 2022, but Matt Brown stepped away around 2019 due to his struggle with addiction, according to PEOPLE.
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